A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. VII (4th edition)
by
Various
Part 10 out of 11
[1] He is mentioned by Webbe, in his "Discourse of English Poetrie,"
1586, Sign. C 4, with other poets of that time, as Whetstone, Munday,
Grange, Knight, _Wilmot_, Darrell, F.C. F.K., G.B., and others, whose
names he could not remember.
[2] Robert Wilmot, A.M., was presented to the rectory of North Okenham,
in Essex, the 28th of November 1582, by Gabriel Poyntz: and to the
vicarage of Horndon on the Hill, in the same county, the 2d December
1585, by the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's.--Newcourt's "Repertorium."
--_Steevens_.
[3] The same person, who was the author of "A Discourse of English
Poetrie: together with the Authors judgment, touching the reformation of
our English Verse." B.L. 4to, 1586. [This "Discourse" is reprinted in
Haslewood'a "Ancient Critical Essays," 1811-15.]
[4] [An English translation was published in 1577.]
[5] These three sonnets following occur both in Lansdowne MS. (786) and
Hargrave MS. (205), but the first was not included in the printed copy
of 1591.
[6] _Pheer_ signifies a husband, a friend, or a companion, and in
all these senses it is used in our ancient writers. It here means
_a husband_. So in Lyly's "Euphues," 1581, p. 29: "If he be young, he
is the more fitter to be thy _pheere_. If he bee olde, the lyker to
thine aged father." It occurs again in act ii. sc. 3, and act iv. sc. 3.
[7] _Prevent_, or _forbid_. So in "Euphues and his England," 1582,
p. 40: "For never shall it be said that Iffida was false to Thirsus,
though Thirsus be faithlesse (which the gods _forefend_) unto Iffida."
[8] _Command_. So in Lyly's "Euphues and his England," p. 78: "For this
I sweare by her whose lightes canne never die, Vesta, and by her _whose
heasts_ are not to be broken, Diana," &c.
Again, in Shakespeare's "Tempest," act iii. sc. 1--
"O my father,
I have broke _your hest_ to say so!"
And in the prologue to [Peele's] "Araygnement of Paris," 1584--
"Done by the pleasure of the powers above,
Whose _hestes_ men must obey."
The word occurs again in act iv. sc. 2, act iv. sc. 4, and act v. sc. 1.
[9] The second and third sonnets are now given (_verbatim et literatim_)
in a note, as they stand in Lansdowne MS. 786. They will serve to show
how slight were Wilmot's improvements, and will leave it perhaps open to
doubt whether the changes made in 1591 were always changes for the
better.
_An other to the same_.
Flowers of prime, pearles couched in gold,
sonne of our day that gladdeneth the hart
of them that shall yo'r shining beames behold,
salue of eche sore, recure of euery smart,
in whome vertue and beautie striueth soe
that neither yeldes: loe here for you againe
Gismondes vnlucky loue, her fault, her woe,
and death at last, here fere and father slayen
through her missehap. And though ye could not see,
yet rede and rue their woefull destinie.
So Joue, as your hye vertues doen deserue,
geue you such feres as may yo'r vertues serue
w'th like vertues: and blissfull Venus send
Vnto your happy loue an happy end.
_An other to the same_.
Gismond, that whilom liued her fathers ioy,
and dyed his death, now dead doeth (as she may)
by vs pray you to pitie her anoye;
and, to reacquite the same, doeth humbly pray
Joue shield yo'r vertuous loues from like decay.
The faithfull earle, byside the like request,
doeth wish those wealfull wightes, whom ye embrace.
the constant truthe that liued within his brest;
his hearty loue, not his unhappy case
to fall to such as standen in your grace.
The king, prayes pardon of his cruel hest:
and for amendes desireth it may suffise,
that w'th his blood he teacheth now the rest
of fond fathers, that they in kinder wise
entreat the iewelles where their comfort lyes.
And we their messagers beseche ye all
on their behalfes, to pitie all their smartes:
and on our own, although the worth be small,
we pray ye to accept our simple hartes
auowed to serue, w'th prayer and w'th praise
your honors, as vnable otherwayes.
[10] The play, as written in 1568, and as altered by Wilmot in 1591,
differs so much throughout, that it has been found impracticable,
without giving the earlier production entire, to notice all the changes.
Certain of the variations, however, and specialities in the Lansdowne
MS., as far as the first and second scenes of the first act, will be
printed (as a specimen) in the notes.
[11] In the Lansdowne MS. another person of the drama is mentioned:
"Claudia, a woman of Gismunda's privie chamber;" and for _Choruses_ we
have: "Chorus, four gentlewomen of Salerne."
[12] Not in the MSS.
[13] The County Palurin, a few lines lower, is called Earl. Mr Tyrwhitt
says that _County_ signified _noblemen_ in general; and the examples
which might be quoted from this play would sufficiently prove the truth
of the observation. See "Shakespeare," vol. x., p. 39. [_County_ for
_Count_ is not very unusual; but it may be doubted if, as Tyrwhitt
thought, _County_ signified _noblemen in general_.]
[14] This is in the two MSS., but varies in many verbal particulars.
[15] Not in the copy of 1591.
[16] Presented to Gismond. She filled up the cup wherein the heart was
brought with her tears and with certain poisonous water, by her
distilled for that purpose, and drank out this deadly drink.
--Copy of 1568.
[17] The story of this tragedy is taken from Boccaccio's "Decameron,"
day 4th, novel first. [It was turned into verse] by William Walter, a
retainer to Sir Henry Marney, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, [and
printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1532. A different version appeared in]
1597, under the title of "The Statly Tragedy of Guistard and Sismond, in
two Bookes," in a volume entitled, "Certaine Worthye Manuscript Poems of
great Antiquitie, reserved long in the Studie of a Northfolke Gent., and
now first published by J.S." Mr Dryden also versified it a second time.
See his works, vol. iii., 8vo edition, p. 245. Oldys, in his MSS. Notes
on Langbaine, says the same story is in Painter's Palace of Pleasure,
vol. i., and a French novel called "Guiscard et Sigismonde fille de
Tancredus Prince de Salerne mis en Latin. Par Leon Arretin, et traduit
in vers Francois, par Jean Fleury." [See Brunet, dern. edit. v.
_Aretinus_, Hazlitt's edit. of Warton, 1871, and "Popular Poetry,"
ii. 66.]
[18] [This line is not in the MSS.]
[19] [Lo I in shape that seem unto your sight.--_Lansdowme MS_.]
[20] [Do rule the world, and every living thing.--Ibid.]
[21] This word seems anciently to have been pronounced as two syllables.
See "Cornelia," act iv., Chorus.
[22] [And eat the living heart.--_Lansdowne MS_.]
[23] An epithet adopted from Virgil's "Aeneid," lib. vi, line 729--
"Et quae _marmoreo_ fert monstra sub aequore pontus."
Ibid. lib. vii. v. 28--
"Lento luctantur _marmore_ tonsae."
Again, "Georg. I.," v. 254--
"Infidum remis impellere _marmor_."
--_Steevens_.
[24] [What secret hollow doth the huge seas hide,
When blasting fame mine acts hath not forth blown.]
--_Lansdowne MS_.
[25] Io.
[26] [Grazing in.--_Lansdowne MS_.]
[27] Like to Amphitrio [when he presented himself] to Alcmena.
[28] [Me.--_Lansdowne MS_.]
[29] [The bloody Mars hath felt my.--_Do_.]
[30] [Evened.--_Do_.]
[31] Hercules.
[32] Alexander.
[33] [Won the famous golden fleece.--_M.S_.]
[34] [What nature's bond or law's restraint avails,
To conquer and deface me every hour.--MS.]
[35] Myrrha.
[36] i.e., For pity. So, act ii. sc. 2--
"As easily befalls that age which asketh _ruth_."
Act v. sc. 1--
"That hath the tyrant king
Withouten _ruth_ commanded us to do."
Again, in Milton's "Lycidas," i. 163--
"Look homeward, angel, now and melt with _ruth_,
And, O ye Dolphins, waft the helpless youth."
And in Churchyard's "Worthiness of Wales," 1587--
"Great _ruth_, to let so trim a seate goe downe,
The countries strength, and beautie of the towne."
[37] [Mine almighty.--MS.]
[38] [This, and the three following lines, are not in the MSS.]
[39] [In creeping thorough all her veins within,
That she thereby shall raise much ruth and woe.--MS.]
[40] [This, and the five preceding lines, are not in the MSS.]
[41] [Lo, this before your eyes so will I show,
That ye shall justly say with one accord
We must relent and yield; for now we know
Love rules the world, love only is the lord.--MS.]
[42] [Hath taught me plain to know our state's unrest.--MS.]
[43] [O mighty Jove, O heavens and heavenly powers.--MS.]
[44] [This, and the next line, do not occur in the MSS.]
[45] [Thy sprite, I know, doth linger hereabout
And looks that I, poor wretch, should after come;
I would, God wot, my lord, if so I mought:
But yet abide, I may perhaps devise
Some way to be unburdened of my life,
And with my ghost approach thee in some wise
To do therein the duty of a wife.--MS.]
[46] These omissions are frequent in our old plays. See note on "Love's
Labour Lost," edit. of Shakspeare, 1778, vol. ii. p. 410.--_Steevens_.
[47] In this manner the word was formerly accented. See Dr Farmer's
"Essay on the Learning of Shakspeare."
[48] Go. So in Epilogue--
"With violent hands he that his life doth end,
His damned soul to endless night doth _wend_."
Again, in the "Return from Parnassus," 1600, act v. sc. 4--
"These my companions still with me must _wend_."
In "George a Green Pinner of Wakefield," [Dyce's "Greene and Peele,"
1861, p. 259, &c.]--
"Wilt thou leave Wakefield and _wend_ with me ...
So will I _wend_ with Robin all along ...
For you are wrong, and may not _wend_ this way."
And in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," Prologue, line 19--
"Byfel, that, on that sesoun on a day,
In Southwerk at the Tabbard as I lay,
Redy to _wenden_ on my pilgrimage,
To Canturbury with ful devout corage."
[49] Alexander.
[50] Hector.
[51] _Euripus Euboicus_, or _Chalcidicus_, is a narrow passage of sea
dividing _Attica_ and the Island of _Euboea_, now called the _Gulf of
Negropont_. It ebbs and flows seven times every day: the reason of
which, it is said, when Aristotle could not find, he threw himself into
the sea with these words: _Quia ego non capio te, tu capias me_. Sir
Thomas Brown, in his "Enquiries into Vulgar Errors," b. vii. c. 14,
appears to have been not satisfied with this account of Aristotle's
death, which he has taken some pains to render doubtful.
[52] [Go]. So act ii. sc. 3--
"Therefore my counsel is you shall not stir,
Nor farther _wade_ in such a case as this,"
And in Turbervile's "Tragical Tales," 1587--
"Eare thou doe _wade_ so farre, revoke to minde the bedlam boy.
That in his forged wings of waxe reposed too great a joy."
[53] _Sadly_, in most of our ancient writers, is used as here for
_seriously_. So in Nash's "Lenten Stuff," 1599: "Nay, I will lay no
wagers, for, now I perponder more _sadly_ upon it, I think I am out
indeed."
Again, in Hall's "Chronicle," 1550, fo. 2: "His cosyn germaine was nowe
brought to that trade of livynge, that he litle or nothynge regarded the
counsaill of his uncles, nor of other grave and _sadde_ persones, but
did all thynge at his pleasure."
In Ascham's "Toxophilus," 1571: "And when I sawe not you amonges them,
but at the last espyed you lookinge on your booke here so _sadlye_, I
thought to come and hold you with some communication."
And in Warton's "Life of Sir Thomas Pope," p. 30: "Wherein is an abbes
namyd Dame Alice Fitzherbert, of the age LX yeares, a very _sadde_,
discreate, and relegyous woman."
[54] Formerly this diversion was as much followed in the evening, as it
was at an earlier hour in the day. In "Laneham's Account of the
Entertainment at Kenelworth Castle," we find that Queen Elizabeth
always, while there, hunted in the afternoon. "Monday was hot, and
therefore her highness kept in till _five a clok in the eeveing; what
time it pleaz'd to ryde forth into the chase too hunt the hart of fors:
which found anon, and after sore chased," &c. Again, "Munday the 18 of
this July, the weather being hot, her highness kept the castle for
coolness, till about _five a clok_, her majesty in the chase, hunted the
hart (as before) of forz" &c.
[55] That is, _proceed no further_.
[56] i.e., Of nature.
[57] Acquaint her with my resolution. _To resolve_, however, was
sometimes used for _convince_, or _satisfy_. It may therefore mean,
_convince her of the propriety of my command_. So in Middleton's "More
Dissemblers besides Women," act i. sc. 3--
"The blessing of perfection to your thoughts, lady,
For I'm _resolv'd_ they are good ones."
Reed is right in his first explanation; it is so used in Chapman's
"May Day," act i. sc. 1.
"Tell her such a man will _resolve_ her naming me."
--"Anc. Dram.," vol. vi. p. 6.--_Gilchrist_.
[A few lines further on in the text, however,] _resolve_ has the same
meaning as _dissolve_; and so in Lyly's "Euphues and his England,"
p. 38: "I could be content to _resolve_ myselfe into teares to rid thee
of trouble."
Marlowe, as quoted in "England's Parnassus," 1600, p. 480 [see Dyce's
"Marlowe," iii., 301], uses it in the same way--
"No molten Christall but a Richer mine,
Euen natures rarest alchumie ran there,
Diamonds _resolu'd_, and substance more diuine.
Through whose bright gliding current might appeare
A thousand naked Nymphes, whose yuorie shine,
Enameling the bankes, made them more deare
Then euer was that glorious Pallas gate.
Where the day-shining sunne in triumph sate."
See also Shakespeare's "Hamlet," act i. sc. 2, and Mr Steevens's note
on it.
[58] _To quail_, is to _languish, to sink into dejection_. So in
Churchyard's "Challenge," 24--
"Where malice sowes, the seedes of wicked waies,
Both honor _quailes_, and credit crackes with all:
Of noblest men, and such as fears no fall."
See also Mr Steevens's notes on the "First Part of Henry IV.," act iv.
sc. 2, and "Cymbeline," act v. sc. 5.
[Had the writer this passage in his mind when he wrote the well-known
lines on Shakespeare, "What need my Shakespeare," &c., which occur in
the folio of 1632?]
[59] [The second Chorus to leave off abruptly with this word, the third
Chorus taking up the narrative.]
[60] A compliment to Queen Elizabeth.--_S.P_.
It was, as Mr Steevens observes, no uncommon thing to introduce a
compliment to Queen Elizabeth in the body of a play. See "Midsummer's
Night's Dream," act ii. sc. 2. See also "Locrine," act v. sc. last.
[61] Probably Henry Noel, younger brother to Sir Andrew Noel, and one of
the gentlemen pensioners to Queen Elizabeth; a man, says Wood, of
excellent parts, and well skilled in music. See "Fasti," p. 145. A poem,
entitled, "Of disdainful Daphne," by M[aster] H. Nowell, is printed in
"England's Helicon," 1600, 4to. The name of Mr Henry Nowell also appears
in the list of those lords and gentlemen that ran at a tilting before
Queen Elizabeth. See Peele's "Polyhymnia," 1590.
"I cannot here let pass unremembered a worthy gentleman, Master Henry
Noel, brother to the said Sir Andrew Noel, one of the gentlemen
pensioners [see Peck's "Life of Milton," p. 225, for the Gentlemen
Pensioners.] to Queen Elizabeth; a man for personage, parentage, grace,
gesture, valour, and many excellent parts, inferior to none of his rank
in the court; who, though his lands and livelihoods were but small,
having nothing known certain but his annuity and his pension, yet in
state, pomp, magnificence and expenses, did equalise barons of great
worth. If any shall demand whence this proceeded, I must make answer
with that Spanish proverb--
'_Aquello qual vienne de arriba ninguno lo pregunta_.'
'That which cometh from above let no one question.'
"This is the man of whom Queen Elizabeth made this enigmatical distich--
'The word of denial, and letter of fifty,
Is that gentleman's name that will never be thrifty.'
He, being challenged (as I have heard) by an Italian gentleman at the
_baloune_ (a kind of play with a great ball tossed with wooden braces
upon the arm), used therein such violent motion, and did so overheat his
blood, that he fell into a calenture, or burning fever, and thereof
died, Feb. 26, 1596, and was by her majesty's appointment buried in the
abbey church of Westminster, in the chapel of St Andrew."--_Benton in
Nichols's "Leicestershire_," vol. iii. p. 249.
Henry Noel was the second son of Sir Edward Noel, of Dalby, by his
second wife, Elizabeth, daughter and heir of William Hopton, of ----,
Shropshire, relict of Sir John Peryent, Knt.--Ibid. 254.--_Gilchrist_.
[62] In the former edition, the word _denay'd_ was altered to the more
modern one of _deny'd_. _Denay'd_, however, was the ancient manner of
spelling it. So in the "Second Part of Henry VI.," act i. sc. 3--
"Then let him be _denay'd_ the regentship."
Again, in the "First Part of Jeronimo," 1605--
"And let not wonted fealty be _denayed_."
And in "Gammer Gurton's Needle"--
"Loke, as I have promised, I will not _denay_ it."
--_Collier_.
[63] _Prease_ signifies _a crowd or multitude, or any assemblage of a
number of persons_. So in "Damon and Pithias," vol. iv., pp. 49, 53--
"The King is at hand, stand close in _the prease_, beware," &c.
And ibid.--
"Away from the prisoner, what a _prease_ have we here!"
Again, in the "History of Euordanus Prince of Denmark," 1605, sig. H:
"The Prince passing forwards sorely shaken, having lost both his
stirrups: at length recovering himselfe, entred _the prease_, where on
all sides he beate downe knights, and unbarred helms."
[It must be repeated, once for all, that such totally unnecessary notes
as this have been retained only from a reluctance to impart to these
volumes the character of an abridged or mutilated republication.]
[64] [Draweth.]
[65] _Raught_ is the ancient preterite of the word _reach_. It is
frequently used by Spenser, Shakespeare, and other ancient writers.
[66] [Old copy, _where her_.]
[67] [Reward.]
[68] Alluding to the vulture that gnawed the liver of Titius. In "Ferrex
and Porrex," act ii. sc. 1, is this line--
"Or cruell gripe to gnaw my groaning hart."
--_Reed_. The allusion is rather to the vulture of Prometheus.
--Steevens.
[69] _Vipeream inspirans animam_. The image is from Virgil. Rowe
likewise adopts it in his "Ambitious Stepmother"--
"And send a _snake_ to every vulgar breast."--_Steevens_.
[70] i.e., The wretch. The word _miser_ was anciently used without
comprehending any idea of avarice. See note on "King Henry VI, Part I.,"
edit. of Shakespeare, 1778, vol. vi. p. 279.--_Steevens_.
[71] "A _stoop_, or _stowp_; a post fastened in the earth, from the
Latin _stupa_."--Ray's "North Country Words," p. 58, edit. 1742.
[72] Not that she is careful or anxious about, or regrets the loss of
this life. So in Milton's "Paradise Lost," Bk. ix. line 171--
"Revenge at first though sweet,
Bitter ere long back on itself recoils;
Let it; _I reck not_, so it light well aim'd."
And again, in the "History of Sir John Oldcastle," 1600--
"I _reck_ of death the less in that I die,
Not by the sentence of that envious priest."
[73] Petrarch and Laura.
[74] These initials were almost unquestionably intended for Christopher
Hatton, afterwards knighted and created Lord Chancellor of England. In
the fourth year of Queen Elizabeth, 1562, about six years before this
play is supposed to have been written, we learn from Dugdale's "Origines
Juridiciales," p. 150, a magnificent Christmas was kept in the Inner
Temple, at which her majesty was present, and Mr Hatton was appointed
Master of the Game. Historians say he owed his rise, not so much to his
mental abilities, as to the graces of his person and his excellence in
dancing, which captivated the Queen to such a degree, that he arose
gradually from one of her Gentlemen Pensioners to the highest employment
in the law, which he, however, filled without censure, supplying his own
defects by the assistance of the ablest men in the profession. _The
grave Lord Keeper_, after his promotion, still retained his fondness for
that accomplishment to which he was indebted for his rise, _and led the
Brawls_ almost until his death. In 1589, on the marriage of his heir
with Judge Gawdy's daughter, "the Lord Chancellor danced the measures at
the solemnity, and left his gown on the chair, saying _Lie there,
Chancellor_." His death, which happened two years after, was hastened by
an unexpected demand of money from the Queen, urged in so severe a
manner, that all the kindness she afterwards showed to him was
insufficient to remove the impression it had made on him. See Birch's
"Memoirs of Queen Elizabeth." vol. i. pp. 8, 56, [and Nicolas's "Life of
Hatton," p. 478.]
[75] Dryden's translation of Boccaccio's "Description of the Cave" is as
follows:--
"Next the proud palace of Salerno stood
A Mount of rough ascent, and thick with wood.
Through this a cave was dug with vast expence:
The work it seem'd of some suspicious prince,
Who, when abusing power with lawless might,
From public justice would secure his flight.
The passage made by many a winding way,
Reach'd even the room in which the tyrant lay.
Fit for his purpose on a lower floor,
He lodged, whose issue was an iron door;
From whence by stairs descending to the ground.
In the blind grot a safe retreat he found.
Its outlet ended in a brake o'ergrown
With brambles, choak'd by time, and now unknown.
A rift there was, which from the mountain's height
Convey'd a glimm'ring and malignant light,
A breathing place to draw the damps away,
A twilight of an intercepted day."
--"Sigismonda and Guiscardo." Dryden's Works, vol. iii. p. 251.
[76] See Milton's "Paradise Lost," Bk. i. l. 60.
[77] _Fetters_ or _chains_. So in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Beggar's
Bush," act iii. sc. 4--
"_Gyves_ I must wear, and cold must be my comfort."
Marston's "What You Will," act ii. sc. 1--
"Think'st thou a libertine, _an ungiv'd_ beast,
Scornes not the shackles of thy envious clogs?"
Milton's "Samson Agonistes," l. 1092--
"Dost thou already single me? I thought
_Gyves_ and the mill had tam'd thee."
See Dr Newton's note on the last passage; and Mr Steevens's note on
"First Part of Henry IV.," act iv. sc. 3.
[78] _Amate_ is to daunt or confound. Skinner, in his "Etymologicon,"
explains it thus: "Perterrefacere, Attonitum reddere, Obstupefacere,
mente consternare, Consilii inopem reddere." So in "Thule or Vertue's
Historic," by Francis Rous, 1598, sig. B--
"At last with violence and open force.
They brake the posternes of the Castle gate,
And entred spoyling all without remorce,
Nor could old Sobrin now resist his fate,
But stiffe with feare ev'n like a senceles corse
Whom grisly terror doth so much _amate_,
He lyes supine upon his fatall bed.
Expecting ev'ry minute to be dead."
Again, Ibid., sig. D--
"He would forsake his choyse, and change his fate,
And leave her quite, and so procure her woe,
Faines that a sudden grief doth her _amate_,
Wounded with piercing sicknes' Ebon bow."
[79] Astonished. So in "Euphues and his England," p. 102--"Philautus,
_astonied_ at this speech," &c. And again, in the "Fable of Jeronimi,"
by G. Gascoigne, p. 209: "When Ferdinando (somewhat _astonied_ with hir
strange speech) thus answered." And in "Thieves Falling Out," &c., 1615,
by Rob. Greene: "The gentleman, _astonied_ at this strange metamorphosis
of his mistress."
[80] _Sprent_ is sprinkled. So in Spenser's "Shepherd's Calendar,"
December--
"My head _besprent_ with hoary frost I find."
And Fairfax's "Tasso," cant. xii. st. 101--
"His silver locks with dust he foul _besprent_."
Again in Milton's "Comus," l. 542--
"Of knot grass dew _besprent_."
[81] Harbour.
[82] Old copy, _hasteth_.
[83] Habiliments, _S.P_.
[84] Unrevenged. [The more correct form would be _unwroken_.] So in Ben
Jonson's "Every Man out of his Humour," act ii. sc. 4--
"Would to heaven,
In _wreak_ of my misfortunes, I were turn'd
To some fair water nymph."
In "Sejanus his Fall," act iv.--
"Made to speak
What they will have to fit their tyrannous _wreak_."
In Massinger's "Fatal Dowry," act iv. sc. 4--
"But there's a heaven above, from whose just _wreak_
No mists of policy can hide offenders."
In his "Very Woman," act i.
"And our just _wreak_, by force or cunning practice
With scorn prevented."
See also Mr Steevens's note on "Coriolanus," act iv. sc. 5. "Moriamur
_in ultae_?"--Virgil's "Aeneid," lib. iv.--_Steevens_.
[85] Sorrow. Again, act v. sc. 3--
"His death, her woe, and her avenging _teen_."
And in Shakespeare's "Venus and Adonis"--
"More I could tell, but more I dare not say,
The text is old, the orator too green.
Therefore in sadness now I will away,
My face is full of shame, my heart of _teen_."
[86] Old copy, _but hell_.
[87] _Untrimmed locks_ are locks dishevelled or undressed. _Trim_, in
the language of the times, was frequently used for dress. So in
Massinger's "Emperor of the East," act ii. sc. 1--
"Our Eastern queens, at their full height bow to thee,
And are, in their best _trim_, thy foils and shadows."
See also Mr Steevens's note on "King John," act iii. sc. 3.
[88] Alluding to a custom of which mention is made in Genesis, chap.
xxiv. 9--"And the servant put his _hand_ under the _thigh_ of Abraham
his master, and _sware_ to him concerning that matter." The same form
was likewise observed by Jacob and Joseph when they were dying. Some
mystery is supposed to be couched under this practice. The most
probable, at least the most decent, supposition is, that it was a token
of subjection or homage from a servant to his lord, when the former
solemnly promised to perform whatever should be commanded by the
latter.--_Steevens_.
[89] The following account of Lodge and his works is very imperfect.
See the Shakespeare Society volume, 1853, containing much fuller
particulars.
[90] In the "Epistle of England to her Three Daughters," in Clarke's
"Polimanteia," 1595, Lodge is spoken of as belonging to Oxford.
--_Collier_.
[91] Mr Malone ("Shakespeare," by Boswell, iii. 40, note 9) says that it
was printed about 1580; but Lodge himself, writing in 1584, speaks of
Gosson's "Plays Confuted," as written "about two years since."
[92] "Scilla's Metamorphosis," 1589; "Diogenes in his Singularity,"
1591; and "A Fig for Momus," 1595, are all stated to be by T.L., or
Thomas Lodge, of Lincoln's Inn, Gentleman.
[93] A French sonnet by Thomas Lodge is prefixed to Robert Greene's
"Spanish Masquerado." He has also some French verses in "Rosalynde."
[94] The lines upon Lodge in "The Return from Parnassus," 1606, would
show that it did occur:--
"He that turns over Galen every day,
To sit and simper 'Euphues' Legacy,'" &c.
--_Collier_.
[95] Afterwards purchased by Mr Collier.
[96] [This does not appear quite to follow. In a poem, "Upon London
Physicians," written about 1620, and quoted in "Inedited Poetical
Miscellanies," edit. Hazlitt, 1870, sig. Ff 5, he is mentioned in the
same way, without any reference to his literary repute or performances.]
It is to be observed in the list of Lodge's productions, that there is
an interval between 1596, when "Wit's Misery and the World's Madness"
appeared, and 1603, when the "Treatise of the Plague" was published.
[97] Others have been attributed to him in conjunction with Greene, but
on no sufficient evidence--viz., "Lady Alimony," not printed until 1659;
"The Laws of Nature," and "The Contention between Liberality and
Prodigality," 1602.
[98] [Reprinted in Mr Dyce's editions of Greene's Works, 1831 and 1861.]
Henslowe probably alludes to this play in his MSS., and if so, it was
acted as early as 1591. The following is the entry: "R. (i.e., received)
at _the Looking Glasse_, the 8th of Marche, 1591, vij s." [See Mr
Collier's edit. 1845, pp. 23-8.]
[99] [Here follows in the former edition a list of Lodge's works, which
will be found more fully and correctly given in Hazlitt's "Handbook,"
in _v_.]
[100] In the course of the incidents of this historical tragedy, Lodge
has very much followed the lives of Marius and Sylla, as given by
Plutarch: he was a scholar, and it was not necessary therefore for him
to resort to Sir Thomaa North's translation from the French, of which
Shakespeare availed himself, and of which there were many editions
subsequent to its first appearance in 1579. It is pretty evident,
however, from a comparison of a few passages quoted in the notes in the
progress of the play, that Lodge did employ this popular work, although
he has varied some of the events, and especially the death of Sylla.
It is not, perhaps, possible now to settle the point when this tragedy
was first represented on the stage, but it was most likely some time
before its publication in 1594. We know that Lodge had written in
defence of the stage before 1582, and it is not unlikely that he did so,
because he had already written for it. Robert Greene, in his "Groat's
worth of Wit," speaks of Lodge as a dramatic poet in 1592; and the
comedy which they wrote together, it is ascertained, was acted in March
1591, if not earlier, although it was not printed until three years
afterwards. The versification of "The Wounds of Civil War" certainly
affords evidence that it was penned even before Marlowe had improved the
measure of dramatic blank verse, which Shakespeare perfected: it is
heavy, monotonous, and without the pauses subsequently introduced; if
therefore Lodge produced it after Marlowe's "Edward II." was brought
out, he did not at least profit by the example. All the unities are set
at defiance.
[101] The "consul's pall" is the consul's robe. Thus Milton in
"Il Penseroso"--
"Let gorgeous Tragedy
In scepter'd _pall_ come sweeping by."
Purple _pall_ is very commonly met with in our old writers.
[102] "Sylla _nill_ brook" is "Sylla _ne will_, or will not brook."
Shakespeare uses the word. See Mr Steevens's note, "Taming of the
Shrew," act ii. sc. 1.
[103] "But specially one day above the rest, having made him sup with
him at his table, some one after supper falling in talke of Captaines
that were in Rome at that time, one that stood by Scipio asked him
(either because he stood in doubt, or else for that he would curry
favour with Scipio), what other Captaine the Romanes should have after
his death, like unto him? Scipio having Marius by him, gently clapped
him upon the shoulders and said, Peradventure this shall be he."
--_North's Plutarch, "Life of Caius Marius_."
[104] [Old copy, _into_.]
[105] [Old copy, _shall_, and so in the next line.]
[106] It is doubtful whether we ought to read _impale_ or _impall_.
If the latter, it means to enfold with a _pall_; but Cleveland uses
_impale_ in the same sense--
"I now _impale_ her in my arms."
This, however, is rather a forced construction.
[107] [Old copy, _spence_.] This may mean "the _expense_ of years that
Marius hath o'erpast," or it may be an easy misprint for "space of
years." Either may be right.
[108] [Old copy, _mate_.]
[109] [Old copy, _conservatives_.]
[110] "To _bandy_ a ball" Coles defines _clava pilam torquere_; "to
bandy at tennis," "Dict." 1679. See Mr Malone's note on "Lear," act i.
sc. 4.
[111] _Prest_ for Asia, is ready for Asia. It is almost unnecessary to
multiply instances, but the following is very apposite:--
"Dispisde, disdainde, starvde, whipt and scornd,
_Prest_ through dispaire myself to quell."
--R. Wilson's "Cobbler's Prophecy," 1594, sig. C4.
[112] Lodge and other writers not unfrequently use the adjective for the
substantive: thus, in "The Discontented Satyre:"--
"Blush, daies eternal lampe, to see thy lot,
Since that thy _cleere_ with cloudy _darkes_ is scar'd."
[113] The quarto has the passage thus--
"These peers of Rome have mark'd
A rash revenging _hammer_ in thy brain;"
which seemed so decidedly wrong as to warrant the change that, without
much violence, has been made.
[114] _Guerdon_ is synonymous with _reward_. It is scarcely yet
obsolete.
[115] Old copy, _hammer_.
[116] Vengeance.
[117] Scarce. It is found in Spenser. Robert Greene also uses it--
"It was frosty winter season,
And fair Flora's wealth was _geason_."
--"Philomela," 1592. Again, we find it in the tragical comedy of "Appius
and Virginia," 1575--"Let my counsel at no time lie with you _geason,_"
sig. D. [vol. iv. p. 138].
[118] Open them.
[119] Old copy, _what_.
[120] The meaning of "would _amate_ me so," is, would daunt or confound
me so. See note to "Tancred and Gismunda" [_supra_, p. 79], where
instances are given.
[121] Mr Steevens, in a note on the "Comedy of Errors," act ii. sc. 1,
has collected a number of quotations to show the meaning of the word
_stale_, and to them the reader is referred. In this place it signifies
a false allurement, bait, or deception on the part of fortune.
[122] The barbarous jargon put into the mouth of this Frenchman is given
in the orthography of the old copy, since it was vain to attempt
correction.
[123] "Now when they were agreed upon it, they could not find a man in
the city that durst take upon him to kill him; but a man of armes of the
Gaules, or one of the Cimbres (for we find both the one and the other in
writing) that went thither with his sword drawn in his hand. Now that
place of the chamber where Marius lay was very dark, and, as it is
reported, the man of armes thought he saw two burning flames come out of
Marius's eyes, and heard a voice out of that dark corner, saying unto
him: O fellow, thou, darest thou come to kill Caius Marius? The
barbarous Gaule, hearing these words, ran out of the chamber presently."
--_North's Plutarch, "Life of Caius Marius_."
[124] "For when he was but very young, and dwelling in the country, he
gathered up in the lap of his gowne the ayrie of an eagle, in the which
were seven young eagles; whereat his father and mother much wondering,
asked the soothsayers what that meant? They answered that their sonne
should one day be one of the greatest men in the world, and that out of
doubt he should obtain seven times in his life the chiefest office of
dignity in his country."--_North's Plutarch, "Life of Caius Marius_."
[125] The old quarto divides the play very irregularly; for according to
it there are two Acts iii. and two Acts iv. One of the Acts iii. was
made to commence here.
[126] Necessarily or unavoidably.
[127] Old copy, _Picaeo_.
[128] Old copy, metals.
[129] An early instance of an echo of this kind upon the stage is to be
found in Peele's "Arraignment of Paris," 1584. Mr D'Israeli has an
entertaining essay upon them in his "Curiosities of Literature," second
series. They were carried to a most ridiculous excess afterwards.
[130] The old spelling of _than_ was _then_, and this must be observed
here. The echo is supposed to encourage Marius again to take up arms--
"Nought better fits old Marius' mind than war."
And the reply of the echo is, "Then war," or then go to war.
[131] This passage is quoted by Mr Steevens in a note on "Hamlet,"
act v. sc. 1, to show that "the winter's _flaw_" there spoken of means
"the winter's _blast_."
[132] Old copy, Distia.
[133] _Dreariment_ is not so frequently met in any of our old writers
as Spenser: I do not recollect it in any play before. It requires no
explanation.
[134] Old copy, _coffer_.
[135] Old copy, _Marius live_.
[136] _Lozel_ is always used as a term of contempt, and means a
worthless fellow.
[137] Old copy, _have_.
[138] Old copy, _And_.
[139] Old copy, _consist_.
[140] We have before had Pedro the Frenchman, or rather the _Gaul_,
according to Plutarch (though why he is called by the Spanish name of
Pedro, we know not), employed to murder Marius, swearing _Par le sang de
Dieu, Notre Dame_, and _Jesu_: and towards the close of the play, where
a couple of ludicrous characters are introduced, "to mollify the
vulgar," the "_Paul's steeple_ of honour" is talked of. Such
anachronisms, however gross, are common to all the dramatists of that
day. Shakespeare is notoriously full of them; and all must remember the
discussion between Hamlet and his friend regarding the children of
Paul's and of the Queen's chapel.
[141] Shakespeare and many other writers of the time use this form of
_fetch_: thus in "Henry V." act iii. sc. 1--
"On, on, you noble English,
Whose blood is _fet_ from fathers of war-proof."
[142] _Glozing_ and _flattering_ are synonymous: perhaps to _gloze_, or,
as it is sometimes spelt, to _glose_, is the same word as to _gloss_. It
is common in Milton in the sense that it bears in the text.
[143] [i.e., Pinky eyne or pink (small) eyes.] See Mr Steevens's note
on the song in "Anthony and Cleopatra," beginning--
"Come, thou monarch of the vine,
Plumpy Bacchus, with _pink_ eyne."
[144] This incident is founded upon a passage in Plutarch's "Life of
Caius Marius," only in that author the man with the wine discloses where
Anthony is concealed to the drawer, of whom he gets the wine, and not to
the soldiers.
[145] The meaning of to _assoil_ is to absolve (see note 4 to "The
Adventurers of Five Hours"), from the Latin _absolvere_; but here it
signifies to _resolve_ or _remove_ doubts. Thus in a passage quoted by
Mr Todd--
"For the _assoiling_ of this difficulty, I lay down these three
propositions."--Mede, _Rev. of God's House_.
The word is frequently to be met with in Spenser in the sense of to
discharge, or set free.
[146] In _doly_ season is in melancholy or wintry season: an adjective
formed from _dole_, and with the same meaning as _doleful_.
[147] The death of Anthony is thus related in North's Plutarch, "Life of
Marius"--
"But he (Marius) sent Annius one of his captaines thither ... and when
they were come to the house which the drawer had brought them to, Annius
taried beneath at the doore, and the souldiers went up the staiers into
the chamber, and finding Anthonie there, they began to encourage one
another to kill him, not one of them having the heart to lay hands upon
him. For Anthonies tongue was as sweet as a Syrene, and had such an
excellent grace in speaking, that when he began to speake unto the
souldiers and to pray them to save his life, there was not one of them
so hard-hearted as once to touch him, no not onely to looke him in the
face, but looking downewards fell a weeping. Annius perceiving they
taried long and came not downe, went himself up into the chamber and
found Anthonie talking to his souldiers, and them weeping, his sweete
eloquent tongue had so melted their hearts: but he, rating them, ran
furiously upon him and strake off his head with his owne hands."
[148] Shakespeare's commentators might have added this passage to the
long list of others they have brought forward (see note on "Othello,"
act i. sc. 3), to show that _intention_ and _attention_, and _intentive_
and _attentive_, were once, synonymous.
[149] This expression is also introduced by Lodge into his "Rosalynde,"
1590, though probably this play was written first--
"With sad and sorry cheer
About her wond'ring stood
The _citizens of the wood_."
Shakespeare calls deer in "As You Like It" citizens, and elsewhere,
"native burghers of this desert city."
The author of "Fuimus Troes" goes farther, and calls the blessed souls
in heaven _citizens_--
"Then shall I
Envy no more those _citizens_ above
The ambrosian juncates of the Olympian hall."
[150] Old copy, _arm_.
[151] The name of _Carbo_ is accidently omitted before this reply in
the quarto.
[152] Old copy misplaces the words _break_ and _bend_; the alteration
here made was suggested by Mr Collier.
[153] i.e., With a _withy_, or twig of willow.
[154] Old copy, _the ravens_.
[155] The quarto reads: "Enter Scipio and Norbanus, Publius Lentulus,"
but the latter has nothing to do with the scene, while Carinna is
omitted.
[156] Old copy, _heedless_.
[157] It is very common for Shakespeare and his contemporaries to use
the word _pretend_ for intend. See notes to "The Two Gentlemen of
Verona," act ii. sc. 6.
[158] In his "Life of Marius," Plutarch states that this event occurred
at Perusia, and that Young Marius was besieged there by Sylla; but in
his "Life of Sylla" he corrects the error, and informs us that Young
Marius was besieged by Lucretius, and that he slew himself at Praeneste.
[159] _Jest_ was used by our ancestors in various senses, but here it
means a deed or action only; thus Sir T. Elyot, as Mr Todd notes, speaks
of "the _jests_ or acts of princes and captains." In fact, this is the
general signification of the term, though it has sometimes a more
particular application. _Gest_ and _jest_ are the same word, though now
and then distinguished.
[160] Old copy, _floats_.
[161] Old copy, _lo_.
[162] Old copy, _yea_. By _She_ Sylla must be understood to refer to
Fate, whom he has just mentioned.
[163] [Old copy, _while_.]
[164] i.e., _Verse_.
[165] See vol. iv. p. 80, respecting the _razors of Palermo.--Collier_.
[Mr Collier's suggested retention of _shave_, the reading of the old
copy, I cannot support.]
[166] "_Phlegon's_ hot breath" is mentioned in "Fuimus Troes;" one of
the horses of the sun was so named.
[167] [Old copy, _fairs_.]
[168] From the edition of 1610. It is not in the first 4to.
[169] In the edition of 1610 the number of performers is raised to ten.
The two additional characters are the _King of Valentia_ and _Anselmo_.
[170] Perhaps the earliest instance of the use of this expression, as to
which see "Old English Jest-Books," 1864, iii.; "Pleasant Conceits of
Old Hobson," Introd.
[171] [The 4to of 1610 makes Tremelio enter here; but he does not appear
to come on till afterwards.]
[172] [Old copies, _Catalone, a_.]
[173] [Old copies, _Oh_.]
[174] Old copies, hardly I did oft.
[175] Old copies, _on_.
[176] Edit. 1598, _Therefore to_. Edit. 1610, _There for to_.
[177] Edit. 1598 and 1610, _hath forget_.
[178] Edits, transpose the two commencing words of this line, and the
first word of the preceding one.
[179] Edits., _say_.
[180] Anticipated. Old copies read _we_ for _me_.
[181] Old copy, _are_
[182] Old copies, _her_.
[183] Edit. 1610, _attend_.
[184] Edit. 1610, _axe_.
[185] Old copies, _his_.
[186] Edit. 1598, _Wily_; edit. 1610, _wilde_.
[187] Old copies, _his Bremo_.
[188] Edits., _ah, hermit_!
[189] Edits., _fair lady_.
[190] Edits., _this is_.
[191] In the old copies there is here a direction, _He disguiseth
himself_, which appears wrong, as Mucedorus is already disguised, and
what he next does is, in fact, to discover himself.
[192] Edits., _none, none, no_.
[193] Edit. 1620, _sacred_.
[194] Old copies, _look_.
[195] Edit. 1598, _paled_; 1106, _pallade_.
[196] Edit. 1610, _strike_.
[197] After this line, in the edition of 1610, occurs the following
substitution for the lines in edit. 1598, beginning "Ho, lords," and
concluding with "Exeunt omnes:"--
Were but thy father, the Valentia lord,
Present in view of this combining knot.
_A shout within. Enter a_ MESSENGER.
What shout was that?
MESSENGER. My lord, the great Valentia king,
Newly arrived, entreats your presence.
MUCEDORUS. My father?
KING OF ARRAGON. Prepared welcomes; give him entertainment.
A happier planet never reigned than that,
Which governs at this hour.
[_Sound_.
_Enter the_ KING OF VALENTIA, ANSELMO, RODRIGO, BARCHEUS,
_with others_; _the_ KING _runs and embraces his son_.
KING OF VALENTIA. Rise, honour of my age, food to my rest:
Condemn not (mighty King of Arragon)
My rude behaviour, so compell'd by Nature,
That manner stood unknowledged.
KING OF ARRAGON. What we have to recite would tedious prove
By declaration; therefore in and feast.
To-morrow the performance shall explain,
What words conceal; till then, drums, speak, bells, ring:
Give plausive welcomes to our brother king.
[_Sound drums and trumpets. Exeunt omnes_.
[198] [In the edition of 1610, the conclusion, from this line, is so
different, that the best mode appeared to be to give it at the foot of
the page:--
COMEDY. Envy, spit thy gall;
Plot, work, contrive; create new fallacies;
Team from thy womb each minute a black traitor,
Whose blood and thoughts have twin conception:
Study to act deeds yet unchronicled;
Cast native monsters in the moulds of men;
Case vicious devils under sancted rochets;
Unhasp the wicket, where all perjureds roost,
And swarm this ball with treasons. Do thy worst;
Thou canst not (hell-hound) cross my star[A] to-night.
[A] [Old copy, _steare_.]
Nor blind that glory, where I wish delight.
ENVY. I can. I will.
COMEDY. Nefarious hag, begin;
And let us tug, till one the mast'ry win.
ENVY. Comedy, thou art a shallow goose;
I'll overthrow thee in thine own intent,
And make thy fall my comic merriment.
COMEDY. Thy policy wants gravity; thou art too weak.
Speak, fiend. As how?
ENVY. Why thus;
From my foul study will I hoist a wretch,
A lean and hungry negro [Old copy, _neagre_.] cannibal:
Whose jaws swell to his eyes with chawing malice,
And him I'll make a poet.
COMEDY. What's that to th'purpose?
ENVY. This scrambling raven, with his needy beard,
Will I whet on to write a comedy,
Wherein shall be compos'd dark sentences,
Pleasing to factious brains:
And every other where place me a jest.
Whose high abuse shall more torment than blows.
Then I myself (quicker than lightning),
Will fly me to a puissant magistrate,
And waiting with a trencher at his back,
In midst of jollity rehearse those galls [Old copy, _gaules_.]
(With some additions) so lately vented in your theatre:
He upon this cannot but make complaint,
To your great danger, or at least restraint.
COMEDY. Ha, ha, ha! I laugh to hear thy folly;
This is a trap for boys, not men, nor such,
Especially desertful in their doings,
Whose staid discretion rules their purposes.
I and my faction do eschew those vices.
But see, O see, the weary sun for rest
Hath lain his golden compass to the west,
Where he perpetual bide and ever shine,
As David's offspring in his happy clime.
Stoop, Envy, stoop, bow to the earth with me,
Let's beg our pardons on our bended knee. [_They kneel_.
ENVY. My power has lost her might; Envy's date's expired,
Yon splendant majesty hath fell'd my sting,
And I amazed am. [_Fall down and quake_.
COMEDY. Glorious and wise Arch-Caesar on this earth,
At whose appearance Envy's stroken dumb,
And all bad things cease operation,
Vouchsafe to pardon our unwilling error,
So late presented to your gracious view,
And we'll endeavour with excess of pain
To please your senses in a choicer strain,
Thus we commit you to the arms of night,
Whose spangled carcase would (for your delight)
Strive to excel the day. Be blessed then:
Who other wishes, let him never speak.
ENVY. Amen!
To Fame and Honour we commend your rest;
Live still more happy, every hour more blest.
FINIS.]
[199] To the edition printed in the Percy Society's Series.
[200] The old spelling has now been abandoned.
[201] For these I am indebted to the kindness of Mr J.P. Collier, who is
now editing "Henslowe's Diary" for the Shakespeare Society. The portions
of it which were published by Malone are very incorrectly given.
[202] _Book_ in these entries means play.
[203] This entry is struck through, the money having been repaid.
[204] This entry is in Porter's own handwriting.
[205] "Spec. of Engl. Dram. Poets," ii. 185, edit. 1835.
[206] See Hazlitt's "Popular Poetry," iv, 38-40.
[207] Second edit., _Welcome then_.
[208] From the second edit. Not in first edit.
[209] Prospects, views, scenes in sight; a meaning of the word which is
found in much later writers.
[210] So second edit. First edit. _he_.
[211] Absolute, perfect, [or rather, perhaps, pure.]
[212] Read, for the metre, _He will_.
[213] So second edit. First edit., _to_.
[214] The audience were to suppose that the stage now represented an
orchard; for be it remembered that there was no movable painted scenery
in the theatres at the time when this play was produced.
[215] Second edit., _rubber_, but the other form is common in our old
writers.
[216] [So second edit.] Equivalent to be hanged.
[217] Second edit., _woman_, which is probably right; see two passages
farther on, in one of which both editions have _woman_.
[218] Gold coins. The words give occasion to innumerable puns in our
early dramas.
[219] Read, for the metre, _here is_
[220] Second edit., _woman_: see note [217].
[221] A term of the game.
[222] Edits., _better_,--the eye of the original compositor having
caught the word above.
[223] A term of the game.
[224] i.e. _Hit_.
[225] Here, probably, Mistress Goursey should make her exit.
[226] i.e., We cannot help it.
[227] So second edit. First edit., _Afford_.
[228] The author probably wrote, "_I_ do _impart_:" compare the next
line.
[229] [Old copies, _tick_.]
[230] i.e., Taught her to tread the ring,--to perform various movements
in different directions within a ring marked out on a piece of ground:
see Markham's "Cheap and Good Husbandry," &c. p. 18, sqq. edit. 1631.
[231] [_Campagne_.] A form of _campaign_ common in our early writers.
[232] i.e., Wilt thou wear, &c.: _point_ means one of the tagged laces
which were used in dress to attach the hose or breeches to the doublet,
&c.
[233] So second edit. First edit., _th'art_.
[234] [Old copies read _when_.]
[235] So second edit. First edit., _in the_.
[236] So second edit. Not in first edit.
[237] [Meaning a tavern of that name.]
[238] Sheathe your sword.
[239] Edits., _me_.
[240] [Old copy, _He's_.] Read, for the metre, _He is_.
[241] i.e., Quality, disposition.
[242] [Old copies, _he'll_.] Read, for the metre, _he will_.
[243] [Fine worsted.]
[244] [Old copies, _his hat, and all green hat_.]
[245] [Old copies, _indirect_.]
[246] Edits., _vassailes_.
[247] So second edit. First edit., _women's_.
[248] Qy. _for an_?
[249] [Old copies, _She's_.] Read, for the metre, _She is_.
[250] A corruption of God's.
[251] [Old copies, _pale_.]
[252] Edits., _apprehend_, but certainly Mall had spoken with sufficient
plainness.
[253] i.e., Nature.
[254] So second edit. First edit., _nay_.
[255] The common dress of a serving-man.
[256] Edits., _you_, which, perhaps, is the right reading, some word
having dropp'd out after it. Qy. thus--
'MRS BAR. Mistresse flurt, you _mean_,
Foule strumpet, light a loue, short heeles! Mistresse Goursey
Call her,' &c.
--_Dyce_. [But _yea_ seems to be the more likely word.]
[257] So second edit. First edit., _tell_.
[258] i.e., Vile.
[259] Edits., _forlorn_.
[260] Qy., _Mother, he loves_?
[261] So second edit. First edit., _the_.
[262] So second edit. First edit., _Thaust_.
[263] i.e., Refuse.
[264] So second edit. First edit., _Gads_.
[265] Edits., _His_.
[266] Qy., _Franke_ he is _young_? Compare the preceding line but one.
[267] i.e., By our lady.
[268] i.e., Miserly persons.
[269] The author probably wrote _neuer was_.
[270] i.e., Honest men.
[271] So second edit. First edit., _ma_.
[272] [See Hazlitt's "Proverbs," 1869, p. 128.]
[273] So second edit. First edit., _faith in_.
[274] Edits., _some_.
[275] Edits., _treason_.
[276] i.e., Vomits: a common pun in old dramas.
[277] i.e., Easily.
[278] Edits., _But_.
[279] So second edit., First edit., _cehape_.
[280] Read, for the metre, _He is_.
[281] Equivalent to--poor, contemptible fellow: but I must leave the
reader to determine the exact meaning of this term of reproach. As
_pingle_ signifies a small croft, Nares (citing a passage from Lyly's
"Euphues") says that _pingler_ is "probably a labouring horse, kept by a
farmer in his homestead." "Gloss." in v.--In Brockett's "Gloss, of North
Country Words" is "_Pingle_, to work assiduously but inefficiently,--to
labour until you are almost blind." In Forby's "Vocab. of East Anglia"
we find, "_Pingle_, to pick one's food, to eat squeamishly:" and in
Moor's "Suffolk Words" is a similar explanation. See also Jamieson's
"Et. Dict. of Scott. Lang."
[282] So second edit. Not in first edit.
[283] So second edit. First edit., _drinke_.
[284] So second edit. First edit., _Nich_.
[285] [This is probably intended to run into verse--
"For when a man doth to Rome come,
He must do as there is done."]
[286] [Old copies, _crush_.]
[287] A form of _digest_, common in our early writers.
[288] [This emendation was suggested by Dyce.]
[289] [Old copies, _shape_.]
[290] So second edit. First edit., _fathers_.
[291] So second edit. First edit., _than_.
[292] Edits., _Franke_.
[293] [Old copies, _boye yee_.]
[294] [Old copies, _love capable to_.]
[295] So second edit. First edit., _Maister_.
[296] Some word most probably has dropped out from the line.
[Perhaps _not_.]
[297] So second edit. First edit., _craft_.
[298] A familiar term for the old English broadsword.
[299] The sharp point in the centre of the buckler.
[300] So second edit. First edit., _and_.
[301] [Dyce proposed to read _ont_.]
[302] i.e., Brave.
[303] [Old copies, _strukst_.]
[304] i.e., Manlike, masculine.
[305] See note [218].
[306] i.e., The parson: _Sir_ was a title applied to clergymen.
[307] See note [255].
[308] [A line appears to be lost here, probably ending with _selves_, as
the whole dialogue is in rhyme.]
[309] i.e., Forester.
[310] Seems to be used here for herd; an unusual meaning of the word.
[See Halliwell's "Diet." _v. Berry_, No. 3.]
[311] So second edit. First edit. _me_.
[312] So second edit. First edit. _th'_.
[313] Edits. _he_.
[314] So second edit. First edit. _thee_.
[315] So second edit. First edit. _thorowly_.
[316] See note [218].
[317] Swoon.
[318] Read, for the metre, _she is_.
[319] Edits., _wone_.
[320] i.e., An _I_ of the Christ-cross row or alphabet.
[321] A term of endearment, formed, perhaps, from _pink_, to wink, to
contract the eyelids.
[322] Edits., _sower_.
[323] i.e., A good whip (_whipstock_ is properly the stock or handle
of a whip).
[324] A term of endearment, which often occurs in our early dramatists.
[325] Edits., _patient_.
[326] [Old copies, _thy_.]
[327] So second edit. First edit., _cheesse_.
[328] So second edit. First edit., _to_.
[329] Read, for the metre, _Shee is_.
[330] A recollection perhaps of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet,"
act iii. sc. 5--
"If I would the fool were married to her grave!"
[331] i.e., Honest.
[332] i.e., Deny.
[333] Read, for the metre, _is it_.
[334] So second edit. First edit., _mistrurst_.
[335] Qy., _now I swear_:
[336] Edits., _confederates_.
[337] Occurs somewhat earlier in edits. (to warn the actors to be in
readiness for coming on the stage).
[338] A well-known part of Oxford. "The principal street is the High
Street, running from Magdalen Bridge to Carfax Church," &c
--New Oxford Guide, p. 3, 8th edit.
[339] i.e., Fine.
[340] A common proverbial expression: "Beggars'-bush being a tree
notoriously known, on the left-hand of the London road, from Huntingdon
to Caxton." [Hazlitt'a "Proverbs," 1869, p. 401. See also pp. 82, 199.]
[341] i.e., Refuse.
[342] Is a common term for a small dagger, but here it seems to be used
in contempt; see the next speech of Coomes.
[343] The origin of this corrupted oath is, I believe, unknown.
[344] i.e., Rabbit-burrow.
[345] i.e., Call me horse.
[346] A not uncommon proverbial expression. Nares ("Gloss." in _v_.)
mentions three places which still retain the name--one between Oxford
and Banbury, another close to Stafford, the third near Shrewsbury.
[347] i.e., Counsel, advice.
[348] i.e., Vile.
[349] So second edit. First edit., _upon_.
[350] i.e., Till.
[351] i.e., A kind of net for catching rabbits,--usually stretched
before their holes.
[352] [The name of a popular game.]
[353] So second edit. First edit., _do_.
[354] i.e., A sucking, or young rabbit.
[355] Vile.
[356] So second edit. First edit., _you'r_.
[357] Second edit., _wilt not_.
[358] i.e., Honest.
[359] Edits. _glimpes_ (the two last letters transposed by mistake.)
[360] i.e., Gave notice of, discovered.
[361] So second edit. First edit. _metamorphesie_.
[362] So second edit. First edit. _these_.
[363] So second edit. First edit. _'Sbloud_.
[364] i.e., Nearer.
[365] So second edit. Not in first edit.
[366] Qy. "_Sir Ralph Smith_, I know."
[367] So second edit. These words are wanting in first edit.
[368] This stage direction occurs somewhat earlier in edits.
[369] I am not sure that this stage direction, which I have added, is
the right one. It would seem, however, that Sir Ralph Smith remains on
the stage, and is supposed not to overhear the dialogue which ensues
between Francis and Will.
[370] Edits., _Sbloud_.
[371] So second edit. First edit., _whench_.
[372] Edits., _ask't_ and _aske_.
[373] Read, for the metre, _It is_.
[374] So second edit. Not in first edit.
[375] Qy., _order here_?
[376] i.e., Nearer.
[377] Perhaps he ought only to retire.
[378] So second edit. First edit., _asgoe_.
[379] [Old copies, _boye_.]
[380] It would seem that something is wanting after this speech, unless
we are to suppose that here the Boy lies down and falls asleep, and that
he wakens on the second entrance of Hodge,--where, however, the edits.
distinctly mark "Enter Hodge _and Boy_"; see later: _Enter [severally]_
HODGE _and_ BOY.
[381] i.e., Excels.
[382] So second edit. First edit. _clowdes_.
[383] So second edit. Not in first edit.
[384] Second edit. _ye_.
[385] Qy. Is this a stage direction crept into the text?
[386] Second edit. _grope_.
[387] Second edit. _so_.
[388] [Old copies, _paint_.]
[389] So second edit. First edit. _buze_.
[390] Second edit. _lips_.
[391] So second edit. First edit. _I have had a Pumpe set up, as good_.
[392] i.e., (Perhaps) swore by our Lady of Walsingham, in Norfolk.
[393] [The name of a game, though here used as a bye-word. See "Popular
Antiquities of Gr. Britain," ii. 341.]
[394] So second edit. First edit., _Tripe-cheeke_.
[395] i.e., Had I known the consequences; a common proverbial expression
of repentance.
[396] See note [16].
[397] So second edit. First edit., _his_.
[398] [Edits., _me_.]
[399] Qy. a proverbial allusion to the famous Brazen-head?
[400] So second edit. First edit., _breath_.
[401] So second edit. Not in first edit.
[402] The hero of a popular German jest-book ("Eulenspiegel,") which was
translated into English at a very early period: see Gifford's note on
Jonson's "Works," iv. 60, and Nares' Gloss. in v.
[403] [First 4to, _silly_.]
[404] So second edit. First edit., _shew_.
[405] i.e., Bauble.
[406] Random.
[407] [i.e., Coomes and Nicholas both retire to the back of the stage.]
[408] Edits., _hap_.
[409] i.e., Ill-will.
[410] Second edit., _he a_; but _a_ is a common contraction for _he_.
[411] So second edit. First edit., _tell_,
[412] i.e., Blind-man's-buff.
[413] So second edit. Not in first edit.
[414] [Old copy, _thief_.]
[415] i.e., (I suppose) Buoys.
[416] [Old copy, _not envies fellon, not_.]
[417] [Old copies, _what_.]
[418] i.e., A dear lean and out of season.
[419] i.e., The alphabet.
[420] So second edit. First edit. _wandring_.
[421] i.e., suffer, endure. Edits. _stole_.
[422] So second edit. First edit. _Being_.
[423] Read, for the metre, _it is_.
[424] So second edit. First edit. _enforc'st_.
[425] Read, for the metre, _wife is_.
[426] So second edit. First edit. _same_.
[427] Second edit. _you_.
[428] So second edit. First edit. _weere_.
[429] [Old edits., _carerie_.]
[430] So second edit. First edit., _shrowdly_.
[431] Second edit., _me_--wrongly, as appears from what follows.
[432] Edits., _be_.
[433] i.e., Ill-will.
[434] i.e., Satisfy, convince.
[435] Edits., _mindes_.
[436] Qy., _you, mother_?
[437] Read, for the metre, _she is_.
[438] Something has dropt out here.
[439] [Edits., _A little_.]
[440] i.e., Vile.
[441] i.e., The one.
[442] [Old copies, _yond may help that come both together_.]
[443] So second edit. First edit., _fileds_.
[444] A common, familiar contraction of _mine uncle_.
[445] Second edit., _fie_.
[446] So second edit. First edit., _brings_.
[447] i.e., _Traitor_ or _felon_.
[448] i.e., Swoon.
[449] Second edit., _fauours_.
[450] So read for the metre. Old copies, _here's_.
[451] See also Collier's "Hist. of Eng. Dramatic Poetry," i. 3.
[452] See Dyce's "Shakespeare," 1868, ii. 2.
[453] Not in the old copy.
[454] [i.e., to Tyburn.]
[455] [Old copy, _thee_.]
[456] Old copy, _well a neere_. Well-a-year is an unusual phrase, _well_
being corrupted from _wail_. "Well-a-day" in the same sense is common
enough.
[457] Old copy, _otimie_, I conjecture _otomy_ for anatomy, a common
form of _anatomy_.
[458] Halliwell mentions the words _pubble_ and _puble_ in different
senses, and the old copy reads puble; but here the context seems to
require _bubble_. He has immediately before used the term _froth_.
[459] Fear.
[460] Divisions, conflicts.
[461] Old copy, _Henry_.
[462] Old copy, _Aveney_.
[463] But see Hazlitt's "Proverbs," 1869, p. 23.
[464] Old copy, _where stands in_.
[465] i.e., Mary, God's mother.
[466] See Hazlitt's "Proverbs," 1869, p. 289.
[467] Possibly in reference to a tract, so called, printed by Wynkyn de
Worde, and (after him) by others.
[468] He means the stammer of Redcap, which he intends to imitate.
[469] Compare "Damon and Pithias," vol. iv., pp. 67-8.
[470] Old copy, _excepts_.
[471] He does not appear, however, to make himself visible, but stands
aside, listening.
[472] Old copy, _times_. See Halliwell, v. _tine_, where the word is
said to mean "the prong of a fork (second explanation)," thence, as in
the text, a horn.
[473] [Old copy, _attempt_.]
[474] Block seems to refer jocularly to Sir Richard's long aside, under
a sort of invisible cap.
[475] Old copy, _solicitie_.
[476] Old copy, _say_.
[477] Old copy, _you_.
[478] Old copy, _Richard's_.
[479] [Old copy, _us_.]
[480] Succeed.
[481] Perhaps the dance so called is meant.
[482] [Old copy, _them_.]
[483] [Old. copy, _ye spoke_.]
[484] Old copy, _rove_.
[485] i.e., From the time of the Confessor.
[486] i.e., Spain; old copy, _Gads_.
[487] A word or words left blank in the old copy.
[488] His gown.
[489] Old copy, _Levarnian_.
[490] Old copy, _It_.
[491] Old copy, _ane_.
[492] The word _search_ is here, and again a little further on used in
the sense of _searchers_.
[493] Old copy, _another_; but Redcap is evidently accompanied by two
assistants.
[494] This appears to stand for officers of the peace, as the _watch_
and the _search_.
[495] Old copy, _King_.
[496] A brothel.
[497] [Old copy, _age_.]
[498] [Old copy, _Fau_, for _Fauconbridge_.]
[499] [This might appear to be a corruption of _go out_, or of _God's
gut (God's guts_ is an ejaculation found elsewhere); but from a
subsequent passage we can but conclude that the disease so called is
intended.]
[500] Old copy, _fill'd_, the compositor's eye, perhaps, having strayed
to the next line.
[501] Strong. See a long note in Nares, edit. 1859, p. 606.
[502] Old copy; _here_.
[503] A room in the Salutation so called.
[504] Guests.
[505] Old copy, _at_.
[506] Old copy, _Raynald_.
[507] [Old copy, _me of_.]
[508] i.e., Terms, as mentioned before. Old copy, _then_.
[509] To _meet with_ is a very common phrase for to _serve_ out,
_requite_.
[510] Skink issues from the hermit's house in the disguise of the man
whom he is supposed to have cured, and as he leaves, addresses parting
words to the hermit within.
[511] Breviary.
[512] Old copy, _them_.
[513] Brand.
[514] Old copy, _of_.
[515] Old copy, _Glo_.
[516] [Old copy, _last_.]
[517] [Old copy, _this_.]
[518] Old copy, _salutes he_.
[519] Old copy, _you for_.
[520] Old copy, _in_.
[521] [Old copy, _we_.]
[522] [Old copy, _we'll_.]
[523] [Old copy, _sighs and songs_.]
[524] In this passage the phrase, _to wear the yellow_, seems hardly to
bear the ordinary construction of, _to be jealous_.
[525] Old copy, _pining_.
[526] Old copy gives this line to the lady, i.e., the merchant's wife.
[527] This seems to be some popular and well-understood allusion--well
understood then, but now obscure enough; nor does Steevens's explanation
help us much. See "Pop. Antiq. of Gr. Britain," 1870, iii. 322.
[528] An allusion to an old proverb.
[529] Old copy gives this line to Gloster.
[530] Old copy, _weak_.
[531] Halliwell says, "a squall."
[532] Fear.
[533] Old copy, _wray_.
[534] Old copy, _not thou art_.
[535] i.e., Gloster, disguised also as a hermit.
[536] Old copy, _he's_.
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