The Works of Aphra Behn, Vol. III
by
Aphra Behn
Part 12 out of 12
Next valiant and noble Lord Howard,
That formerly dealt in lamb's wool;
Who knowing what it is to be towered,
By impeaching may fill the jails full.
p. 100 _Brumighams_. Bromingham was a slang term of the day for a Whig.
Roger North says that the Tories nicknamed the opposite party
'_Birmingham_ Protestants, alluding to the false groats struck at that
place'. Birmingham was already noted for spurious coinage. cf. Dryden's
prologue to _The Spanish Friar_ (1681):--
What e'er base metal come
You coin as fast as groats at Bromingam.
A panegyric on the return of the Duke and Duchess of York from Scotland
says of Shaftesbury's medal that
'Twas coined by stealth, like groats at Birmingham.
For Birmingham = Whig we have _Old Jemmy, an Excellent New Ballad_:
Let Whig and Bromingham repine,
They show their teeth in vain;
The glory of the British line,
Old Jemmy's come again.
Also in Matthew Taubman's _A Medley on the Plot_, this stanza occurs:--
Confound the hypocrites, Birminghams royal,
Who think allegiance a transgression;
Since to oppose the King is counted loyal,
And to rail high at the succession.
Dryden in his Preface to _Absalom and Achitophel_, I, speaks of 'an
Anti-Bromingham', i.e. a Tory.
p. 100 _dry bobs_. A bob was a sarcastic jest or jibe. cf. _Sir Giles
Goosecappe_ (1606), Act. v, I. 'Marry him, sweet Lady, to answere his
bitter Bob,' and Buckingham's _The Rehearsal_ (1671), Act iii, I, where
Bayes cries: 'There's a bob for the Court.' A dry bob (literally = a
blow or fillip that does not break the skin) is an intensely bitter
taunt, cf. _Cotgrave_ (1611), _Ruade seiche_, a drie bob, jeast or nip.
_Bailey_ (1731) has '_Dry Bob_. a Taunt or Scoff'.
p. 100 _By Yea and Nay_. 'Yea and Nay' was often derisively applied to
the Puritans, and hence to their lineal descendants the Whigs, in
allusion to the Scriptural injunction, _S. Matthew_ v, 33-7, which they
feigned exactly to follow. Timothy Thin-beard, a rascally Puritan, in
Heywood's _If you Know Not Me, You Know Nobody_, Part II (4to, 1606), is
continually asseverating 'By yea and nay', cf. Fletcher's _Monsieur
Thomas_, Act ii, III, where Thomas says:--
Do not ye see me alter'd? 'Yea and Nay,' gentlemen;
A much-converted man.
In _Sir Patient Fancy_ (1678), Lady Knowell's late husband, a rank
Puritan, is said to have been 'a great Ay and No Man i'th' City, and
a painful promoter of the good Cause.'
p. 109 _Twins_. Vide note (p. 319, _Amorous Twire_), Vol. II, p. 440,
_The Feigned Courtezans_.
p. 113 _gives Julia the Letter_. Mrs. Behn took the hint for this device
from _L'Ecole des Maris_, ii, XIV, where Isabella feigning to embrace
Sganarelle gives her hand to Valere to kiss.
p. 116 _Just-au-corps_. 'A sort of jacket called a _justacorps_ came
into fashion in Paris about 1650. M. Quicherat informs us that a pretty
Parisienne, the wife of a _maitre de comptes_ named Belot, was the first
who appeared in it. In a ballad called _The New-made Gentlewoman_,
written in the reign of Charles II, occurs the line "My justico and
black patches I wear". Mr. Fairholt suggested that _justico_ may be a
corruption of _juste au corps_.--Planche's _Cyclopedia of Costume_,
Vol. I, p. 318. Pepys, 26 April, 1667, saw the Duchess of Newcastle
'naked-necked, without anything about it, and a black just-au-corps'.
cf. Dryden's _Limberham; or, The Kind Keeper_ (1678), iv, I: '_Aldo_.
Give her out the flower'd Justacorps with the petticoat belonging
to't.'
p. 116 _Towers_, The tower at this time was a curled frontlet of false
hair. cf. Crowne's _The Country Wit_ (1675), Act ii, II, where Lady
Faddle cries to her maid, 'run to my milliner's for my gloves and
essences ... run for my new towre.' Shadwell, _The Virtuoso_ (1676), Act
iii, mentions 'Tires for the head, locks, tours, frouzes, and so forth'.
_The Debauchee_ (1677), Act ii, I: Mrs. Saleware speaks of buying 'fine
clothes, and tours, and Points and knots.' _The Younger Brother_ (1696),
Act v, the last scene, old Lady Youthly anxiously asks her maid, 'is not
this Tour too brown?' During the reign of Mary II and particularly in
the time of Anne a Tower meant almost exclusively the high starched
head-dress in vogue at that period.
p. 116 _beat the hoof_. To go packing; to trudge off on foot. _Dic.
Canting Crew_ (1690), 'Hoof it or beat it on the Hoof--to walk on foot.'
Pad the hoof is a yet commoner expression. These and similar slang are
still much used.
p. 117 _finical_. According to the _N.E.D_. the use of finical as a verb
is a nonce word only found in this passage.
p. 119 _lead Apes in Hell_. To die an old maid. A very common expression.
It will be remembered that Beatrice had something to say on the subject.
--_Much Ado About Nothing_, Act ii, I.
p. 122 _Docity_. Gumption, cf. note (p. 340), Vol. II, p. 441, _The
Feign'd Curtezans_.
p. 123 _Don Del Phobos_. The adventures of the Knight of the Sun and his
brother Rosiclair belong to the Amadis school of romance. They were
published in two volumes, folio, at Saragossa, 1580, under the title
_Espejo de principes e cavalleros; o, Cavallero del Febo_. The first
part of this romance was translated into English by Margaret Tiler, _The
Mirrour of Princely deedes and Knighthood_ (4to, 1578), other portions
appearing subsequently. The whole four parts, translated from the
original Spanish into French, appeared in eight volumes, and an abridged
version was made by the Marquis de Paulmy. The Amadis cycle long
remained immensely popular.
p. 129 _Gad-bee in his Brain_. As we now say 'a bee in his bonnet'. For
'Gad-bee' cf. Holland's _Pliny_ (1601) I, 318. 'The bigger kind of bees
... and this vermin is called _Oestrus_ (i.e. the gad-bee or horse
fly).' cf. _The Lucky Chance_, ii, II: 'The Gad-Bee's in his Quonundrum'
and note on that passage infra. For the idea compare 'brize-stung'
(= crazed).
p. 142 _Cockt_. Set his hat jauntily. A very frequent phrase.
p. 146 _Slashes_. Bumpers. From the idea of vigour contained in 'slash'.
The word is extremely rare in this sense and perhaps only found here.
But cf. Scottish (Lothian) 'slash' = a great quantity of broth or any
other sorbile food.
p. 148 _what the Devil made me a ship-board_? cf. Geronte's reiterated
complaint 'Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galere?'--_Les
Fourberies de Scapin_ (1671), ii, VII; and the phrase in Cyrano de
Bergerac's _Le Pedant Joue_ (1654): 'Ha! que diable, que diable aller
faire en cette galere?... Aller sans dessein dans une galere!... Dans la
galere d'un Turc!'--Act ii, IV. In France this phrase is proverbial.
p. 156 _glout thy Eyes_. Scowl; frown. Glout (without 'thy Eyes') is
very common in this sense. cf. Note (p. 201), Vol. II, p. 433.
p. 160 _an Antick_. A fantastic measure. This is a favourite word with
Mrs. Behn.
p. 165 _Aquinius his Case_. This is, I take it, some confused allusion
to the great Dominican Doctor, S. Thomas Aquinas, who was regarded as
being the supreme Master of scholasticism and casuistry. Casuistry must
be taken in its true and original meaning--the balancing and deciding of
individual cases.
p. 175 _Bantring and Shamming_. Banter = to chaff or make fun of, at
this time a new slang word. It is almost certain that the verb, which
came into use about 1670, was a full decade earlier than the noun. In
1688 the substantive 'Banter' was up-to-date slang. For the verb _vide_
D'Urfey's _Madam Fickle_ (1676), Act v, I, where Zechiel cries to his
brother: 'Banter him, banter him, Toby. 'Tis a conceited old Scarab, and
will yield us excellent sport--go play upon him a little--exercise thy
Wit.' cf. Swift, _Apology_ (1710), _Talke of a Tub_: 'Where wit hath
any mixture of raillery, 'tis but calling it banter, and the work is
done. This polite word of theirs was first borrowed from the bullies in
Whitefriars, then fell among the footmen, and at last retired to the
pedants.'
For 'shamming' cf. Wycherley's _The Plain Dealer_ (1674), iii, I, where
the Lawyer says to Manly: 'You ... shammed me all night long.'
'Shammed!' cries Manley, 'prithee what barbarous law-term is that?'
'Shamming ...' answers the lawyer, ''tis all our way of wit, Sir.' And
Freeman explains 'Shamming is telling you an insipid dull lie with a
dull face, which the sly wag the author only laughs at himself; and
making himself believe 'tis a good jest, puts the sham only upon
himself.'
p. 176 _Dumfounding_. A rude and rough form of practical joking. The
players 'dumfounded' each other with sudden blows stealthily dealt. cf.
Shadwell's The True Widow (1678), Act iv, I. Prig in the theatre says:
'You shall see what tricks I'll play; 'faith I love to be merry'. (Raps
people on their backs, and twirls their hats, and then looks demurely,
as if he did not do it.) The pit, often a very pandemonium, was the
chief scene of this sport. Dryden, prologue to _The Prophetess_ (1690),
speaks of the gallants in the theatre indulging freely in
That witty recreation, called dumfounding.
p. 176 _stum'd Wine_. To stum wine is to renew dead and insipid wine by
mixing new wine with it and so raising a fresh fermentation. cf. Slang
(still in common use) 'stumer', a generic term for anything worthless,
especially a worthless cheque.
p. 176 _Grisons_. A 'grison' is a servant employed on some private
business and so dressed in gray (gris) or a dark colour not to attract
notice. cf. Shadwell's _The Volunteers_ (1693), Act ii, sc. I: '_Sir
Nich_. I keep grisons, fellows out of livery, privately for nothing but
to carry answers.'
THE LUCKY CHANCE.
p. 183 _Laurence, Lord Hyde_. This celebrated statesman (1641-1711) was
second son of Edward Hyde, first Earl of Clarendon. The Dedication must
have been written in 1686 when, wavering between the Catholic Faith and
Protestantism, he was still high in favour with the King. 4 January,
1687, he was dismissed from court owing to his persistent refusals to be
received into the Church.
p. 183 _The Abbot of Aubignac_. Francois Hedelin, Abbe D'Aubignac, a
famous critic and champion of the theatre, was born at Paris, 4 August,
1604. Amongst his best known works are: _Terence justifie_ (4to, 1646,
Paris), an attack on Menage; _La Practique du theatre_ (4to, 1669,
Paris); and _Dissertations concernant le poeme dramatique en forme de
remarques sur les deux tragedies de M. Corneille, intitulees_ Sophonisbe
_et_ Sertorious (12mo, 1663, Paris). He died at Nemours, 27 July, 1676.
p. 185 _Dr. Davenant_. Charles Davenant, LL.D, (1656-1714), eldest son
of Sir William Davenant. He sat for St. Ives, Cornwall, in the first
parliament of James II, and was appointed, along with the Master of the
Revels, to license plays.
p. 185 _Sir Roger L'Estrange_. The celebrated Tory journalist,
pamphleteer and censor was born in 1616. He had ever been a warm
defender of James II, and upon this monarch's accession was liberally
rewarded. 21 May, 1685, a warrant was issued directing him to enforce
most strictly the regulations concerning treasonable and seditious and
scandalous publications. After the Revolution he suffered imprisonment.
He died 11 December, 1704.
p. 185 _Mr. Killigrew_. Charles Killigrew (1655-1725), Master of the
Revels, was son of Thomas Killigrew by his second wife Charlotte de
Hesse. He had been appointed Master of the Revels in 1680, patentee of
Drury Lane Theatre in 1682. He was buried in the Savoy, 8 January,
1724-5.
p. 186 _Mr. Leigh_. Antony Leigh, the famous comedian, who created Sir
Feeble Fainwood. The scene referred to is Act iii, sc. II, where it must
be confessed that, in spite of her protestation, Mrs. Behn gives the
stage direction--Sir Feeble 'throws open his Gown, they run all away, he
locks the Door.'
p. 186 _Oedipus_. Dryden and Lee's excellent tragedy was produced at
Dorset Garden in 1679. Betterton created Oedipus and his wife Jocasta.
It was extraordinarily popular, as, indeed, were all the plays Mrs. Behn
marshalls forth in this preface. The scene particularly referred to is
Act ii, I: 'Oedipus enters, walking asleep in his Shirt, with a Dagger
in his Right-Hand and a Taper in his Left.' A little after 'Enter
Jocasta, attended with Lights, in a Night-Gown.'
p. 186 _City Politicks_. This comedy by Crowne is a mordant satire upon
the Whigs. It was produced with great success at the Theatre Royal and
printed quarto 1683. A certain Florio feigns to be dying in order to
prevent the Podesta suspecting an intrigue between his wife, Rosaura,
'the Lady Mayoress', and so impotent an invalid. Artall is in love with
Lucinda, who is married to a toothless old lawyer, Bartoline. Says
Genest: 'The Podesta and Bartoline are as well cuckolded as any Tory
could wish.' cf. The conclusion of Act ii and the commencement of Act
iii; also the discovery of Florio and Rosaura in Act v.
p. 186 _London Cuckolds_. This immensely popular play, five merry
side-splitting acts which kept the stage for a century, was produced in
1682 at Dorset Garden. Ravenscroft has no less than three cuckolds in
his Dramatis Personae: Doodle, Dashwell, and Wiseacre. The intrigues and
counter-intrigues are innumerable. At the end the cuckolds all jeer one
another.
p. 186 _Sir Courtly Nice_. This witty comedy, Crowne's masterpiece, was
produced at the Theatre Royal in 1685. Mrs. Behn's allusion is to Act
ii, II, where Crack, disguised as a tailor, visits Leonora. The language
is often cleverly suggestive.
p. 186 _Sir Fopling_. Etheredge's third comedy, _The Man of Mode; or,
Sir Fopling Flutter_ was produced at the Duke's Theatre in 1676. It met
'with extraordinary success'. Mrs. Behn points at Act iv, II.
p. 186 _Valentinian_. The reference is to the Earl of Rochester's
_Valentinian_, altered from Fletcher, which was produced with great
applause at the Theatre Royal in 1684. The Court Bawds, Balbus,
Proculus, Chylax, Lycinius, with the 'lewd women belonging to the
court', Ardelia and Phorba, are important characters in the tragedy. The
direct allusion is, perhaps, to Act ii, I. The scene after the rape, Act
iv, sc. III, 'opens, discovers th'Emperor's Chamber. Lucina newly
unbound by th'Emperor'. The 'Prologue spoken by Mrs. Cook the first
day' is by Mrs. Behn (_vide_ Vol. VI). It is certain that an audience
which found no offence in Rochester's _Valentinian_ could ill have taken
umbrage at the freedoms of _The Lucky Chance_.
p. 186 _The Moor of Venice. Othello_ was one of the first plays to be
revived at the Restoration, and was, perhaps, the most frequently seen
of all Shakespeare. On 11 October, 1660, Burt acted Othello at the
Cockpit. Downes gives Mohun as Iago; Hart, Cassio; Cartwright,
Brabantio; Beeston, Roderigo; Mrs. Hughes, Desdemona; Mrs. Rutter,
Emilia. But it is certain Clun had also acted Iago--(Pepys, 6 February,
1668). Hart soon gave up Cassio to Kynaston for the title role in which
he is said to have excelled. After his retirement in 1683 it fell to
Betterton, of whose greatness in the part Cibber gives a lively picture.
The _Tatler_ also highly commends this actor's Othello.
p. 186 _The Maids Tragedy_. Mrs. Behn refers to Act ii, I, and Act
iii, I. Hart acted Amintor; Mohun, Melantius; Wintershall, the King;
Mrs. Marshall, Evadne. Rymer particularly praises Hart and Mohun in
this tragedy, saying: 'There we have our Roscius and Aesopus both on
the stage together.' After 1683 it was differently cast. It will be
remembered that Melantius was Betterton's last role, in which he
appeared for his benefit 13 April, 1710, to the Amintor of Wilks and
the Evadne of Mrs. Barry. He died 28 April, a fortnight after.
p. 187 _Wills Coffee House_. This famous coffee-house was No. 1 Bow
Street, Covent Garden, on the west side corner of Russell Street. It
derived its name from Will Unwin who kept it. The wits' room was
upstairs on the first floor. Some of its reputation was due to the fact
that it was a favourite resort of Dryden.
p. 187 _write for a Third day only_. The whole profits of the third
day's performance went to the author of the play; and upon these
occasions his friends and patrons would naturally rally to support him.
There are numberless allusions to this custom, especially in Prefaces,
Prologues and Epilogues.
p. 189 _the Mall_. The Mall, St. James's Park, was formed for Charles
II, who was very fond of the game 'pall-mall'. The walk soon became a
popular and fashionable resort. There are innumerable references. cf.
Prologue, Dryden's _Marriage a la Mode_ (1672):--
Poor pensive punk now peeps ere plays begin,
Sees the bare bench, and dares not venture in;
But manages her last half-crown with care,
And trudges to the Mall, on foot, for air.
The scene of the first Act of Otway's _The Soldier's Fortune_ (1681) is
laid in the Mall, and gives a vivid picture of the motley and not over
respectable company that was wont to foregather there.
p. 189 _the Ring_. The Ring, Hyde Park, a favourite ride and promenade
was made in the reign of Charles I. It was very fashionable, and is
frequently alluded to in poem and play. cf. Etheredge, _The Man of Mode;
or, Sir Fopling Flutter: 'Sir Fopling_. All the world will be in the
Park to-night; Ladies, 'twere pity to keep so much beauty longer within
doors, and rob the Ring of all those charms that should adorn it.'--Act
iii sc. II. cf. also Lord Dorset's _Verses on Dorinda_ (1680):--
Wilt thou still sparkle in the Box,
Still ogle in the Ring?
p. 193 _Starter_. This slang word usually means a milksop, but here it
is equivalent to 'a butterfly', 'a weathercock'--a man of changeable
disposition. A rare use.
p. 193 _Finsbury Hero_, Finsbury Fields, which Pepys thought 'very
pleasant', had been kept open for the citizens to practise archery. An
ordinance of 1478 is extant which orders all obstacles to be removed and
Finsbury to be 'made a plain field for archers to shoot in'. As late as
1737 there were standing twenty-four 'rovers' or stone pillars for
shooting at distances.
p. 196 _Mr. Barnardine_. This allusion must almost certainly be to a
recent revival of _Measure for Measure_, which particular play had been
amongst those set aside by the regulation of 12 December, 1660, as the
special property of Davenant's theatre. After the amalgamation of the
two companies in November, 1682, a large number of the older plays were
revived or continued to be played (with a new cast and Betterton in the
roles which had been Hart's) during the subsequent decade. Downes
mentions _Othello, The Taming of the Shrew_, and several by Beaumont and
Fletcher, Ben Jonson, and Brome. On the other hand, it is possible this
reference may merely be to _The Law Against Lovers_ (1661, folio, 1673),
in which Sir William Davenant has mixed Benedick and Beatrice with
Angelo, Claudio, Isabella and the rest. It is a curious conglomeration,
and the result is very pitiful and disastrous. Bernardine and the prison
scenes are retained. _Measure for Measure_ was again profanely altered
by Gildon in 1700, mutilated and helped out by 'entertainments of music'.
p. 197 _Snicker Snee_. See note Vol. I, p. 449, _Snick-a-Snee, The Dutch
Lover_, iii, III (p, 278).
p. 198 _Spittal Sermon_. The celebrated Spital Sermons were originally
preached at a pulpit cross in the churchyard (now Spital Square) of the
Priory and Hospital of St. Mary Spital, founded 1197. The cross, broken
at the Reformation, was rebuilt during Charles I's reign, but destroyed
during the Great Rebellion. The sermons, however, have been continued to
the present time and are still preached every Easter Monday and Easter
Tuesday before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, at Christ Church, Newgate
Street.
P. 201. _Alsatia_. This cant name had been given to the precinct of
Whitefriars before 1623, then and for many years a notorious refuge for
persons wishing to avoid bailiffs and creditors. The earliest use of the
name is Thomas Towel's quarto tract, _Wheresoever you see meet, Trust
unto Yourselfe: or the Mysterie of Lending and Borrowing_ (1623). The
second use in point of time is the Prologue to Settle's _Pastor Fido_
(1676):--
And when poor Duns, quite weary, will not stay;
The hopeless Squire's into _Alsatia_ driven.
Otway's comedy, _The Soldiers Fortune_ (4to, 1681), where Courtine
says: 'I shall be ere long as greasy as an Alsatian bully,' comes third;
and Mrs. Behn's reference to Alsatia in this play, which is often
ignored, claims fourth place. We then have Shadwell's famous comedy,
_The Squire of Alsatia_ (1688), with its well-known vocabulary of
Alsatian jargon and slang, its scenes in Whitefriars, the locus
classicus, a veritable mine of information. The particular portions of
Whitefriars forming Alsatia were Ram-Alley, Mitre Court, and a lane
called in the local cant Lombard Street. No. 50 of Tempest's _Cries of
London_ (drawn and published in James II's reign) is called 'A Squire of
Alsatia', and represents a fashionable young gallant. Steele, _Tatler_
(No. 66), 10 September, 1709, speaks of Alsatia 'now in ruins'. It is
interesting to note that many authorities, ignoring Settle and Mrs.
Behn's allusions, quote Powel and Otway as the only two places where the
word 'Alsatia' is found before Shadwell made it so popular.
p. 202 _Dornex_. Or dornick, a worsted or woollen fabric used for
curtains, hangings and the like, so called from Tournai, where chiefly
manufactured. cf. Shadwell's _The Miser_ (1672), Act i, I: 'a dornock
carpet'. Also _Wit and Drollery_ (1681): Penelope to Ulysses:--
The Stools of _Dornix_ which that you may know well
Are certain stuffs Upholsterers use to sell.
p. 202 _Henry the Eighth_. Henry VIII had been put on by Davenant in
December, 1663 with a wealth of pomp and expenditure that became long
proverbial in the theatrical world. An extra large number of supers were
engaged. Downes dilates at quite unusual length upon the magnificence of
the new scenery and costumes. The court scene was especially crowded
with 'the Lords, the Cardinals, the Bishops, the Doctors, Proctors,
Lawyers, Tip-staves.' On New Year's Day, 1664, Pepys went to the Duke's
house and saw 'the so much cried up play of Henry VIII; which tho' I
went with resolution to like it, is so simple a thing, made up of a
great many patches, that, besides the shows and processions in it, there
is nothing in the world good or well done.' On 30 December, 1668,
however, he saw it again, 'and was mightily pleased, better than ever I
expected, with the history and shows of it.' In _The Rehearsal_ (1671),
Act v, I, Bayes says: 'I'l shew you the greatest scene that ever England
saw: I mean not for words, for those I do not value; but for state,
shew, and magnificence. In fine I'll justifie it to be as grand to the
eye every whit, I gad, as that great Scene in Harry the Eight.'
p. 203 _Joan Sanderson_. See note Vol. I, p. 456: _Joan Sanderson. The
Roundheads_, Act iv, IV (p. 402).
p. 204 _Haunce in Kelder_. Literally Jack-in-the-Cellar, i.e. the unborn
babe in the womb. cf. Davenant and Dryden's alteration of _The Tempest_,
Act iv, sc. II. '_Stephano_, I long to have a Rowse to her Grace's
Health, and to the _Haunse in Kelder_, or rather Haddock in Kelder, for
I guess it will be half Fish'; and also Dryden's _Amboyna_ (1673), Act
iv, sc. I, where Harman senior remarks at Towerson and Ysabinda's
wedding: 'You Englishmen ... cannot stay for ceremonies; a good honest
Dutchman would have been plying the glass all this while, and drunk to
the hopes of Hans in Kelder till 'twas bedtime.'
p. 204 an _Apple John_. An apple John is usually explained as being a
kind of apple said to keep two years and to be in perfection when
shrivelled and withered, cf. 2 _Henry IV_, ii, IV, and the context. If
the allusion here is to such a kind of apple Sir Feeble's phrase is
singularly inept, as may perhaps be intended to be the case.
p. 204 _St. Martin's Trumpery_. The parish of St. Martin-le-Grand was
formerly celebrated for the number of shops vending cheap and imitation
jewellery within its purlieus. 'St. Martin's ware' came to mean a
forgery.
p. 205 _nick their Inclinations_. To nick = to thwart. A somewhat
uncommon use. Generally, to nick (slang), means 'to arrest', 'to waylay
and stop'.
p. 207 _the wonderful Salamanca Doctor_. cf. Notes, Vol. II, p. 433.
_silken Doctor. The City Heiress_. Prologue (p. 202); and Vol. II, p.
437. _Salamanca. The City Heiress_, v, V (p. 297).
p. 208 _the Twire_. cf. Note, Vol. II, p. 440. _Amorous Twire. The
Feign'd Curtezans_, i, II (p. 319).
p. 210 _gutling_. Guzzling, cf. supra, p. 479.
p. 210 _Docity_. cf. Note, Vol. II, p. 441. _Docity. The Feign'd
Curtezans_. ii, I (p. 340).
p. 210 _laid in Lavender_. An old and common phrase for 'to pawn'.
cf. Florio, _Worlds of Wordes_ (1593): 'To lay to pawne, as we say, to
lay in Lavender.' Ben Jonson, _Every Man out of his Humour_, Act iii,
sc. III: 'And a black sattin suit of his own to go before her in; which
suit (for the more sweet'ning) now lies in Lavender.'
p. 210 _Enter Rag and Landlady_. Mrs. Behn remembered how Don John
treated Dame Gillian, his landlady. _The Chances_, i, IX.
p. 211 _Judas_. cf. Note, Vol. I, p. 457. _The Roundheads_. v, II
(p. 413).
p. 211 _flabber_. Fat; puffed out. A very rare adjective, perhaps only
here. The _N.E.D_. quotes this passage with a reference to the adjective
'flaberkin' = puffed out, puffy, and a suggestion that it is akin to the
substantive 'flab' = something thick, broad, fat.
p. 212 _this old Sir Guy of Warwick_. Sir Guy of Warwick is an old slang
name for a sword; a rapier. The name is taken from the romance (of which
there were many versions) and which proved extraordinarily popular. It
was first licensed 'in prose by Martyn Parker' to Oulton, 24 November,
1640. Smithson's version was first printed in black letter, and a second
edition appeared in 1686. John Shurley's version was published 4to, 1681
and again 1685. Esdalle, _English Tales and Romances_, enumerates
sixteen versions, editions and abridgements, concluding with 'The
Seventh Edition' 12mo, 1733.
p. 214 _Enter Bredwel_. Lady Fulbank supplying Gayman with money through
the medium of Bredwel 'drest like a Devil' is reminiscent of incidents
in Dryden's first comedy, _The Wild Gallant_ (1663, and revised version,
1667; 4to, 1667), where Lady Constance employs Setstone, a jeweller, to
accomodate Loveby with ready cash. Loveby is benefited to the tune of
two hundred and fifty pounds, which are filched from the study of old
Lord Nonsuch, who complains in much the same way as Sir Cautious. Loveby
declares it must be the devil who has enriched him, and forthwith
rescues his 'Suit with the Gold Lace at Sleeves from Tribulation.' Owing
to his poverty he has been unable to visit Constance, and when he
appears before her in his gay clothes he excuses his fortnight's absence
by saying, I have been 'out of Town to see a little thing that's fallen
to me upon the Death of a Grandmother.' In Act i of _The Wild Gallant_
Loveby gives Bibber a humorous description of a garret, which may be
paralleled with Bredwel's 'lewd' picture of Cayman's chamber--_The Lucky
Chance_, Act i, II. It must be allowed that Mrs. Behn bears away the
palm in this witty passage. _The Wild Gallant_ is, by Dryden's own
confession (cf. the First Prologue), founded on a Spanish plot. In the
Preface he says: 'The Plot was not Originally my own: But so alter'd by
me, (whether for better or worse, I know not) that, whoever the Author
was, he could not have challeng'd a Scene of it.' So vast, indeed, is
the library of the Spanish Theatre that it has not as yet been
identified, a task which in view of the author's own statement may well
be deemed nigh impossible. Recent critics have pertinently suggested
that the device of furnishing Loveby with money was the chief hint for
which Dryden is indebted to Spain. The conduct of the amour between
Lady Fulbank and Gayman, founded as it is on Shirley's _The Lady of
Pleasure_, has nothing in common with Otway's intrigue between Beaugard
and Portia--_The Atheist_ (1683)--which owes itself to Scarron's novel,
_The Invisible Mistress_.
p. 222 _the Gad-Bee's in his Quonundrum_. _Gad-Bee_, vide supra. _The
False Count_, Act ii, II (p. 129), note, p. 481. _Quonundrum_ or
Conundrum. A whim; crotchet; maggot; conceit. The _N.E.D_. quotes this
passage, cf. Jonson's _Volpone_, Act v, sc. II: 'I must ha' my
crotchets! And my conundrums!' _Dic. Cant. Crew_ (1700) has:
'_Conundrums_. Whimms, Maggots and such like.'
p. 222 _jiggiting_. To jigget = to jig, hop or skip; to jump about, and
to fidget, cf. T. Barker, _The Female Tatler_ (1709), No. 15: 'She has a
languishing Eye, a delicious soft Hand, and two pretty jiggetting Feet.'
cf. _to giggit_. Note, Vol. II, p. 436. _fisking and giggiting_. _The
City Heiress_, ii, II (p. 262).
p. 223 _we'll toss the Stocking_. This merry old matrimonial custom in
use at the bedding of the happy pair is often alluded to. cf. Pepys, 8
February, 1663: 'Another story was how Lady Castlemaine, a few days
since, had Mrs. Stewart to an entertainment, and at night begun a
frolique that they two must be married; and married they were, with ring
and all other ceremonies of church service, and ribbands, and a sack
posset in bed and flinging the stocking; but in the close it is said my
Lady Castlemaine, who was the bridegroom, rose, and the King come and
take her place.'
p. 224 _the Entry_. In the Restoration theatre it was the usual practice
for the curtain to rise at the commencement and fall at the end of the
play, so that the close of each intermediate act was only marked by a
clear stage. There are, however, exceptions to this rule, more
particularly when some elaborate set or Tableau began a new act. A
striking example is Act ii, _The Forc'd Marriage_.
p. 224 _Mr. Cheek_. Thomas Cheek was a well-known wit and songwriter of
the day. His name not infrequently occurs to the graceful lyrics with
which he supplied the theatre. There are some pretty lines of his,
'Corinna, I excuse thy face', in Act v of Southerne's _The Wives Excuse;
or, Cuckolds make Themselves_ (1692); and a still better song, 'Bright
Cynthia's pow'r divinely great,' which was sung by Leveridge in the
second act of Southerne's _Oroonoko_ (1699), came from his prolific pen.
p. 225 _Bandstrings_. Strings for fastening his bands or collar which
were in the seventeenth century frequently ornamented with tassels, cf.
Selden, Table-Talk (1689): 'If a man twirls his Bandstrings'; and Wood,
_Ath. Oxon_. (1691): 'He [wore] snakebone bandstrings (or bandstrings
with huge tassels).'
p. 225 _yare_. Eager; ready; prepared from A.-S. gearo. cf. _Measure for
Measure_, iv, II: 'You shall find me yare'; and _The Tempest_, i, I:
'Cheerly, my hearts! yare, yare!'; also Act v, sc. I: 'Our ship ... is
tight and yare.' Also _Antony and Cleopatra_, v, II: 'yare, yare, good
Iras; quick.' Ray gives it as a Suffolk word, and the 'hear, hear' of
Lowestoft boatmen of to-day is probably a disguised 'yare, yare'.
p. 226 _Livery and Seisin_. A very common error for the legal term
'livery of seisin' which signifies the delivery of property into the
corporal possession of a person.
p. 251 _Song. Oh! Love_. Mr. Bullen, who includes this 'impassioned
song' in his _Musa Proterva: Love-Poems of the Restoration_ (1889), has
the following note: 'Did Mrs. Behn write these fine verses?... Henry
Playford, a well-known publisher of music, issued in the same year
[1687] the Fourth Book of _The Theatre of Music_, where "O Love, that
stronger art" appeared with the heading "The Song in Madam Bhen's last
New Play, sung by Mr. Bowman, set by Dr. John Blow." At the end of the
song Playford adds, "These words by Mr. Ousley." ... Mrs. Behn usually
acknowledged her obligations; but she may have been neglectful on the
present occasion. Ousley's claim cannot be lightly set aside.' There is
nothing to add to this, and we can only say that Aphra Behn had such
true lyric genius that 'Oh! Love that stronger art' is in no way beyond
her. A statement which neither disposes of nor invalidates Ousley's
claim based, as this is, upon such strong and definite evidence.
John Bowman (or Boman) who acted Bredwel had 'as a boy' joined the
Duke's Company about 1673. He was, says Cibber, in the days of Charles
II 'a Youth fam'd for his Voice', and he often sang before the King, no
indifferent judge of music. Bowman's name appears as Peter Santlow in
_The Counterfeit Bridegroom; or, the Defeated Widow_ (1677). He soon
became an actor of considerable merit, and created Tattle in _Love for
Love_ (1695). He is said to have remained on the stage for the
extraordinary period of sixty-five years, and to have played within a
few months of his death. Davies speaks highly of his acting, even in
extreme old age. Oldys (MS. note on Langbaine) refers to him as 'old
Mr. John Bowman'. Cibber, in his _Apology_ (1740), speaks of '_Boman_
the late Actor of venerable Memory'.
p. 234 _half Pike_. 'Now _Hist_. A small pike having a shaft of one half
the length of the full-sized one. There were two kinds; one, also called
a _spontoon_, formerly carried by infantry officers; the other, used on
ships for repelling boarders, a boarding-pike,'--_N.E.D_. which quotes
(inter alia) Massinger, &c., _Old Law_ (4to, 1656), Act iii, II:
'Here's a half-pike'; and Froger, _Voyages_ (1698): 'Their ordinary Arms
are the Hanger, the Sagary (assagai), which is a very light Half-Pike.'
p. 245 _Geometry_. A colloquial term for magic.
p. 247 _a Sirreverence under your Girdle_. 'To have an M under (or by)
the Girdle' was a proverbial expression = to have a courteous address by
using the titles Mr., Mrs., Miss, &c. cf. Halliwell, _Dictionary Archaic
and Proverhial Words_; 'M. ... to keep the term "Master" out of sight, to
be wanting in proper respect.' cf. _Eastward Hoe_ (1605), Jonson,
Chapman, and Marston, iv, I: 'You might carry an M under your Girdle';
and not infrequently. Sir- (or Save-) Reverence is an old and very
common colloquialism. It was the most usual form of apology when
mentioning anything likely to offend, or naming a word for which excuse
was thought proper or necessary. Wherefore it came to stand in place of
various words of obscene sound or meaning. There are innumerable
instances from Mandeville (1356); down to recent times, and even
Devonshire dialect to-day.
p. 248 _the George in White-Fryers_. The George tavern was situated in
Dogwell Court, and some little time after the abolition of the vicious
privileges of Alsatia by the Act 8 and 9 William III, c. 27 (1697), it
was converted into the printing office of William Bowyer, the elder.
These premises were destroyed by fire, 30 January, 1713. Scene II, Act i
of Shadwell's _The Squire of Alsatia_ (1688), is laid 'at the George in
Whitefriars'.
p. 249 _he cullies_. To cully = to cheat; trick. Although the verb,
which came into use circa 1670, and persisted for a full century, is
rare, the substantive 'a cully' (= a fool) is very common. For the verb,
cf. Pomfret, _Poems_ (1699), _Divine Attributes_: 'Tricks to cully
fools.'
p. 249 _he pads_. The substantive 'pad' = a path or highway. Bailey
(1730-6) has 'to Pad ... to rob on the road on foot.' cf. Ford's _The
Lady's Trial_ (1639), v, I: 'One can ... pick a pocket, Pad for a cloak
or hat'; and also Cotton Mather's _Discourse on Witchcraft_ (1689),
chap, vii: 'As if you or I should say: We never met with any robbers on
the road, therefore there never was any Padding there.'
p. 250 _sport a Dye_. To play at dice. 'To sport', generic for 'to
parade' or 'display' was, and is a very common phrase. It is especially
found in public school and university slang. This is a very early
example.
p. 250 _Teaster_. i.e. a tester--sixpence, cf. Farquhar's _Love and a
Bottle_, (1698), i, I, where Brush says: 'Who throws away a Tester and a
mistress loses sixpence.'
p. 251 _to top upon him_. To cheat him; to trick him; especially to
cheat with dice. cf. _Dictionary of the Canting Crew_ (by B.E. _gent_.,
1696): 'Top. What do you Top upon me? _c_. do you stick a little Wax to
the Dice to keep them together, to get the Chance, you wou'd have? He
thought to have Topt upon me. _c_. he design'd to have Put upon me,
Sharpt me, Bullied me, or Affronted me.'
p. 251 _we are not half in kelter_. Kelter (or kilter) = order;
condition; spirits. cf. Barrow, Sermons, I, Ser. 6: 'If the organs of
prayer are out of Kelter, or out of time, how can we pray?' _Dictionary
Canting Crew_ (1690), has: 'Out of Kelter, out of sorts.' The phrase is
by no means rare.
p. 251 _as Trincolo says_. Lady Fulbank mistakes. The remark is made by
Stephano, not Trincalo. Dryden and Davenant's _The Tempest_ (1667), Act
ii, I: '_Ventoso_. My wife's a good old jade ...
... _Stephano_. Would you were both hanged, for putting me in thought of
mine!'
p. 252 _Ladies of Quality in the Middle Gallery_. The jest lies in the
fact that the middle gallery or eighteenpenny place in a Restoration
theatre was greatly frequented by, if not almost entirely set aside for,
women of the town. cf. Dryden's _Epilogue on the Union_ (1682):--
But stay; me thinks some Vizard-Mask I see
Cast out her Lure from the mid Gallery:
About her all the fluttering Sparks are rang'd;
The Noise continues, though the Scene is chang'd:
Now growling, sputt'ring, wauling, such a clutter!
'Tis just like Puss defendant in a Gutter.
And again, in his Prologue to Southerne's _The Disappointment_ (1684),
he has:--
Last there are some, who take their first degrees
Of lewdness in our middle galleries:
The doughty bullies enter bloody drunk,
Invade and grabble one another's punk.
p. 257 _Hortensius_. Cato Uticensis is said in 56 B.C. to have ceded his
wife Marcia to Q. Hortensius, and at the death of Hortensius in 50 B.C.
to have taken her back again--Plutarch, _Cato Min_., 25.
p. 258 _he has a Fly_. A fly = a familiar. From the common old belief
that an attendant demon waited on warlocks and witches in the shape of
a fly, or some similar insect. cf. Jonson's _The Alchemist_, I (1610):--
You are mistaken, doctor,
Why he does ask one but for cups and horses,
A rifling fly, none of your great familiars.
Also Massinger's The _Virgin Martyr_, ii, II:--
Courtiers have flies
That buzz all news unto them.
p. 271 _Snow-hill_. The old Snow Hill, a very narrow and steep highway
between Holborn Bridge and Newgate, was cleared away when Holborn
Viaduct was made in 1867. In the days of Charles II it was famous for
its chapmen, vendors of ballads with rough woodcuts atop. Dorset,
lampooning Edward Howard, has the following lines:
Whence
Does all this mighty mass of dullness spring,
Which in such loads thou to the stage dost bring?
Is't all thine own? Or hast thou from _Snow Hill_
The assistance of some ballad-making quill?
p. 271 _Cuckolds Haven_. This was the name given to a well-known point
in the Thames. It is depicted by Hogarth, _Industry and Idleness_, No. 6.
Nahum Tate has a farce, borrowed from _Eastward Hoe_ and _The Devil's an
Ass_, entitled _Cuckold's Haven; or, An Alderman no Conjuror_ (1685).
p. 278 _Nice and Flutter_. The two typical Fops of the day. Sir Courtly
Nice, created by Mountford, is the hero of Crowne's excellent comedy,
_Sir Courtly Nice_ (1685). In Act v he sings a little song he has made
on his Mistress: 'As I gaz'd unaware, On a face so fair--.' Sir Fopling
Flutter is the hero of Etheredge's masterpiece, _The Man of Mode; or,
Sir Fopling Flutter_ (1676). Sir Fopling, a portrait of Beau Hewitt,
became proverbial. The role was created by Smith.
p. 278 _shatterhead_. A rare word for shatter-(scatter) brained. cf.
The Countess of Winchilsea, _Miscellany Poems_ (1713), 'Pri'thee
shatter-headed Fop'.
p. 278 _Craffey_. Craffy is the foolish son of the Podesta in Crowne's
_City Politicks_ (1683). He is described as 'an impudent, amorous,
pragmatical fop, that pretends to wit and poetry.' He is engaged in
writing _Husbai_ an answer to _Absalom and Achitophel_.
p. 278 _whiffling_. Fickle; unsteady; uncertain. To whiffle = to
hesitate; waver; prevaricate. cf. Tillotson, _Sermons_, xiv (1671-94):
'Everyman ought to be stedfast ... and not suffer himself to be whiffled
... by an insignificant noise.' 1724 mistakenly reads 'whistling' in
this passage.
p. 279 _Bulkers_. Whores. cf. Shadwell, _Amorous Widow_ (1690), Act iii:
'Her mother sells fish and she is little better than a bulker.' A bulker
was the lowest class of prostitute. cf. Shadwell's _The Scowerers_, Act
i, I: 'Every one in a petticoat is thy mistress, from humble bulker to
haughty countess.' Bailey (1790) has: 'Bulker, one that would lie down
on a bulk to any one. A common Jilt. A whore.' Swift, _A Tale of a Tub_,
Section II, has: 'They went to new plays on the first night, haunted the
chocolate houses, beat the watch, lay on bulks.'
p. 279 _Tubs_. A patient suffering from the _lues venerea_ was
disciplined by long and severe sweating in a heated tub, which combined
with strict abstinence was formerly considered an excellent remedy for
the disease. cf. _Measure for Measure_, Act iii, sc. II: 'Troth, sir,
she has eaten up all her beef, and she is herself in the tub.' Also
_Timon of Athens_, iv, III: 'Be a whore still' ...
p. 279 _Jack Ketch_. cf. _Dict. Canting Crew_ (by B.E. _Gent_, 1690):
'Jack Kitch. The Hangman of that Name, but now all his Successors.' He
exercised his office circa 1663-87. It was Ketch who bungled the
execution of Monmouth. There are innumerable contemporary references
to him. cf. Dryden's Epilogue to _The Duke of Guise_ (1682):--
'Jack Ketch', says I, ''s an excellent physician.'
THE FORC'D MARRIAGE.
p. 286 _The Nursery_. Vide note, _little Mrs. Ariell_, Vol. II,
p. 430-1.
p. 287 _King. Mr. Westwood_. It has been quite mistakenly suggested that
Westwood was Otway's theatrical name. Westwood was a professional actor
of mediocre though useful attainments. He is cast for such roles as Tom
Faithfull in Revet's _The Town Shifts_ (April, 1671); Eumenes in Edward
Howard's _The Woman's Conquest_ (1671); and Battista in Crowne's
_Juliana_ (1671).
p. 300 _unsuit_. A rare form of 'unsuitable'.
p. 304 _devoir_. Endeavour; effort. This passage is quoted in the
_N.E.D_.
p. 305 _The Representation of the Wedding_. This curious tableau is a
striking example of the Elizabethan 'Dumb Show' lingering on to
Restoration days. Somewhat similar, though by no means such complete,
examples may be seen in Orrery's _Henry the Fifth_ (1664), at the
commencement of Act iv, and again in the same author's _The Black
Prince_ (19 October, 1667), Act ii. It must be confessed that Mrs. Behn
has made an excellent use of this technical contrivance. In the
Restoration theatre it was the usual practice for the curtain to rise at
the beginning and fall at the end of the play, so that the close of each
intermediate act was only shown by a clear stage. Although I have marked
Act ii, sc. I of _The Forc'd Marriage_ 'The Palace', I have little doubt
that as the drama was staged Smith and Mrs. Jennings advanced and the
curtain fell behind them hiding the rest of the characters, only to rise
again upon Scene II, 'The Court Gallery'. Philander and Galatea played
upon the apron stage. If they, however, maintained their places in the
tableau, they would have immediately after entered on to the apron,
before the curtain, by way of the proscenium doors. In any case Scene I
must have been acted well forward.
p. 312 _rencounter_. Meet.
p. 322 _Phi. Who's there_. The Duke of Buckingham, in _The Rehearsal_
(1671), Actus ii, scaena V, has a fray burlesquing this passage.
p. 325 _Phi. Villain, thou ly'st_. cf. _The Rehearsal_, Actus v, scaena
I: _'Lieutenant-General. Villain, thou lyest.'_
p. 330 _Campania_. The operations of an army in the field during a
season. cf. Edmund Everard's _Discourses on the Present State of the
Protestant Princes of Europe_ (1679): 'Since the last campania the
Three ... have entred into the entanglement of a War.'
p. 331 _Pattacoon_. A Spanish dollar value 4s. 8d; vide supra, Vol. I,
_The Rover_ (I), ii, I (p. 36) and note on that passage, p. 442.
p. 347 _in a dishabit_. This word is excessively rare, if this be not
the unique example. The _N.E.D_. fails to include it. Dishabille had
been introduced from France in the reign of Charles II, and (in its
various forms) became exceedingly popular. It is noticeable that all
other editions, save the first quarto (1671), in this passage read
'in an undress'.
p. 352 _or smothers her with a pillow_. This is only in the first
quarto. Here in particular, and throughout the whole scene, Mrs. Behn's
reminiscences of _Othello_ are very patent.
p. 358 _Enter Erminia veil'd_. In Sir William Barclay's _The Lost Lady_
(folio 1639), a good, if intricate, tragi-comedy, which was received
with applause after the Restoration [Pepys saw it 19 January, 1661, and
again, rather more than a week later, on the 28th of the same month],
and not forgotten by Buckingham when he penned _The Rehearsal_, Milesia
(supposed dead), the wife of Lysicles, appears to her husband as a ghost
--Act v, sc. I. It is very possible that Mrs. Behn hence took her hint
for the phantom of the living Erminia. It is noticeable that generations
after Tobin borrowed not a few incidents from _The Lost Lady_ for _The
Curfew_, produced at Drury Lane, 19 February, 1807, a posthumous play.
In Lodowick Carlell's _The Fool Would be a Favourite; or, The Discreet
Lover_ (12mo, 1657), we have Philantus confronting Lucinda as his own
ghost--(Actus Quintus).
p. 358 _Tiffany_. A kind of thin silk gauze. cf. Philemon Holland's
_Plinie_, Bk. XI, ch. xxii: 'The invention of that fine silke, tiffanie,
sarcenet, and cypres, which instead of apparell to cover and hide, shew
women naked through them.' All subsequent editions to 4to 1671, read
'taffety' in this passage.
THE EMPEROR OF THE MOON.
p. 390 _Lord Marquess of Worcester_. Charles, Marquis of Worcester
(1661-1698), father of Henry Somerset, second Duke of Beaufort, was the
second son [Henry, his elder brother, died young] of Henry Somerset,
first Duke of Beaufort (1629-1700), by Mary, eldest daughter of Arthur,
first Lord Capel. The first Duke of Beaufort, the staunchest of Tories,
was high in favour with Charles I, Charles II, and James II. Charles,
the son and heir, was killed through an accident to his coach in Wales,
July, 1698, and the shock is said to have hastened the old Duke's end.
p. 391 _acted in France eighty odd times_. The original scenes were
produced by the Italian comedians at the Hotel de Bourgogne, 5 March,
1684. Their popularity did not wane for many a decade. In the fifth
edition (1721) of Gherardi's _Theatre Italien_ there are far fuller
excerpts from the farce than in the first edition (1695).
p. 392 _who now cannot supply one_. The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. If
Mrs. Behn's complaint about the public is true, James II was, none the
less, himself a good friend to the stage, and many excellent plays were
produced during his reign. There is, however, considerable evidence that
at this period of strife--religious and political, rebellion and revolt
--things theatrical were very badly affected, and the play-house poorly
attended.
p. 393 _No Woman without Vizard_. cf. Cibber in his _Apology_ (1740),
ch. viii: 'I remember the ladies were then observed to be decently
afraid of venturing bare-faced to a new comedy, till they had been
assured they might do it, without the risk of an insult to their
modesty: or, if their curiosity were too strong for their patience, they
took care, at least, to save appearances, and rarely came upon the first
days of acting but in masks (then daily worn, and admitted in the pit,
the side-boxes, and gallery) which custom, however, had so many ill
consequences attending it, that it has been abolished these many years.'
p. 394 _Sice_. Six. The number six at dice.
p. 394 _it sings Sawny. Saunie's Neglect_. This popular old Scotch song
is to be found, with a tune, on p. 317, Vol. I, D'Urfey's _Wit and
Mirth; or, Pills to Purge Melancholy_ (1719). It had previously been
given in _Wit and Drollery_ (1681). It commences thus:--
Sawney was tall and of noble race
And lov'd me better than any eane
But now he ligs by another lass
And Sawney will ne'er be my true love agen.
Ravenscroft, in _The London Cuckolds_ (1682), Act iii, introduces a
link-boy singing this verse as he passes down the street.
p. 394 _There's nothing lasting but the Puppets Show_. About this time
there was a famous Puppet Show in Salisbury Change which was so
frequented that the actors were reduced to petition against it. cf. The
Epilogue (spoken by Jevon) to Mountfort's _The Injured Lovers_ (1688),
where the actor tells the audience they must be kind to the poet:--
Else to stand by him, every man has swore.
To Salisbury Court we'll hurry you next week
Where not for whores, but coaches you may seek;
And more to plague you, there shall be no Play,
But the Emperor of the Moon for every day.
Philander and Irene are the conventional names of lovers in the novels
and puppet plays which were fashionable. It is interesting to note that
less than a century after this prologue was first spoken, _The Emperor
of the Moon_ was itself being played at the puppet show in Exeter Change.
p. 395 _Doctor Baliardo_. The Doctor was one of the leading masks, stock
characters, in Italian impromptu comedy. Doctor Graziano, or Baloardo
Grazian, is a pedant, a philosopher, grammarian, rhetorician,
astronomer, cabalist, a savant of the first water, boasting of his
degree from Bologna, trailing the gown of that august university.
Pompous in phrase and person, his speech is crammed with lawyer's jargon
and quibbles, with distorted Latin and ridiculous metaphors. He is
dressed in black with bands and a huge shovel hat. He wears a black
vizard with wine-stained cheeks. From 1653 until his death at an
advanced age in 1694 the representative of Dr. Baloardo was Angelo
Augustino Lolli. The Doctor's speeches in _Arlequin Empereur dans la
Lune_ (1684), are a mixture of French and Italian.
p. 395 _Scaramouch_. In the original _Arlequin Empereur dans la Lune_
Scaramouch is Pierrot. The make-up and costume of Pierrot (Pedrolino)
circa 1673 is thus described: 'La figure blanchie. Serre-tete blanc.
Chapeau blanc. Veste et culotte de toile blanche. Bas blancs. Souliers
blancs a rubans blancs.' It will be seen that he differed little from
his modern representative. Arlechino appeared in 1671 thus: 'Veste et
pantalon a fond jaune clair. Triangles d'etoffes rouges et vertes.
Boutons de cuivre. Bas blancs, Souilers de peau blanche a rubans rouges.
Ceinture de cuir jaune a boucle de cuivre. Masque noir. Serre-tete noir.
Mentonniere noire. Chapeau gris a queue de lievre. Batte. Collerette de
mousseline.'
Colombine (Mopsophil) in 1683 wore a traditional costume: 'Casaquin
rouge borde de noir. Jupe gris-perle. Souliers rouges bordes de noir.
Manches et collerette de mousseline. Rayon de dentelle et touffe de
rubans rose vif. Tablier blanc garni de dentelles.'
p. 397 _your trusty Roger_. cf. John Weever's _Ancient funerall
monuments_ (folio, 1631): 'The seruant obeyed and (like a good trusty
Roger) performed his Master's commandment.' Roger stands as a generic
name.
p. 399 _Lucian's Dialogue_. The famous [Greek: Ikaromenippos hae
hypernephelos]--'Icaromenippus; or, up in the Clouds.' Mrs. Behn no
doubt used the translation of Lucian by Ferrand Spence. 5 Vols. 1684-5.
'Icaromenippus' is given in Vol. III (1684).
p. 399 _The Man in the Moon. The Man in the Moone_, by Domingo Gonsales
(i.e. Francis Godwin, Bishop of Llandaff, and later of Hereford), 8vo,
1638, and 12mo, 1657. This is a highly diverting work. The Second Edition
(1657) has various cuts amongst which is a frontispiece, that occurs
again at page 29 of the little volume, depicting Gonsales being drawn up
to the lunar world in a machine, not unlike a primitive parachute, to
which are harnessed his 'gansas ... 25 in number, a covey that carried
him along lustily.'
p. 399 _A Discourse of the World in the Moon_. Cyrano de Bergerac's
[Greek Selaenarchia] _or the Government of the World in the Moon: Done
into English by Tho. St. Serf, Gent_. (16mo, 1659), and another version,
_The Comical History of the States and Empires of the Worlds of the Moon
and Sun, newly Englished by A. Lovell, A.M_. (8vo, 1687).
p. 400 _Plumeys_. Gallants; beaus. So termed, of course, from their
feathered hats. cf. Dryden's _An Evening's Love_ (1668), Act i, I, where
Jacinta, referring to the two gallants, says: 'I guess 'em to be
Feathers of the _English_ Ambassador's train.' cf. Pope's Sir Plume in
_The Rape of the Lock_. In one of the French scenes of _La Precaution
inutile_, produced 5 March, 1692, by the Italian comedians, Gaufichon
(Act i, I) cries to Leandre: 'Je destine ma soeur a Monsieur le Docteur
Balouard, et trente Plumets comme vous ne la detourneroient pas d'un
aussi bon rencontre.' The French word = a fop is, however, extremely
rare. Plumet more often = un jeune militaire. cf. Panard (1694-1765);
_Oeuvres_ (1803), Tome III, p. 355:--
Que les plumets seraient aimables
Si leurs feux etaient plus constants!
p. 401 _Cannons_. Canons were the immense and exaggerated breeches,
adorned with ribbons and richest lace, which were worn by the fops of
the court of Louis XIV. There is more than one reference to them in
Moliere. Ozell, in his translation of Moliere (1714), writes 'cannions'.
cf. _School for Husbands_, Vol. II, p. 32: 'those great cannions
wherein the legs look as tho' they were in the stocks.'
Ces grands cannons ou, comme en des entraves,
On met tous les matins ses deux jambes esclaves.
--_Ecole des Maris_, i, I.
cf. Pepys, 24 May, 1660: 'Up, and made myself as fine as I could, with
the linen stockings on and wide canons that I bought the other day
at Hague.'
p. 403 _The Count of Gabalis_. The Abbe Montfaucon de Villars (1635-73)
had wittily satirized the philosophy of Paracelsus and the Rosicrucians
and their belief in sylphs and elemental spirits in his _Le Comte de
Gabalis ou Entretiens sur les sciences secretes_ (Paris, 1670), which
was 'done into English by P.A. _Gent_.' (P. Ayres), as _Count Gabalis,
or the Extravagant Mysteries of the Cabalists, exposed in five pleasant
discourses_ (1680), and thus included in Vol. II of Bentley and Magnes,
_Modern Novels_ (1681-93), twelve volumes. It will be remembered that
Pope was indebted to a hint from _Gabalis_ for his aerial machinery in
_The Rape of the Lock_.
p. 406 _Iredonozar_. This name is from Gonsales' (Bishop Godwin) _The
Man in the Moone_: 'The first ancestor of this great monarch [the
Emperor of the Moon] came out of the earth ... and his name being
Irdonozur, his heirs, unto this day, do all assume unto themselves
that name.'
p. 407 _Harlequin comes out on the Stage_. This comic scene, _Du
Desespoir_, which affords such opportunity for the mime, although not
given in the first edition of Le _Theatre Italien_, finds a place in the
best edition (1721). The editor has appended the following note: 'Ceux
qui ont vu cette Scene, conviendront que c'est une des plus plaisantes
qu'on ait jamais jouee sur le _Theatre Italien_.'
p. 408 _a Man that laugh'd to death_. This is the traditional end of
l'unico Aretino. On hearing some ribald jest he is said to have flung
himself back in a chair and expired of sheer merriment. Later days
elucidate his fate by declaring that overbalancing himself he broke
his neck on the marble pavement. Sir Thomas Urquhart, the glorious
translator of Rabelais, is reported to have died of laughter on hearing
of the Restoration of Charles II.
p. 410 _Boremes_. A corrupt form (perhaps only in these passages) of
bouts-rimes. 'They were a List of Words that rhyme to one another
drawn up by another Hand and given to a Poet, who was to make a Poem
to the Rhymes in the same Order that they were placed on the List.'
--Addison, _Spectator_, No. 60 (1711).
p. 413 _Flute Doux_. Should be flute-douce. 'The highest pitched variety
of the old flute with a mouthpiece.'--Murray, _N.E.D_. cf. Etheredge,
_The Man of Mode_ (1676), ii, II: 'Nothing but flute doux and French
hoyboys.'
p. 420 _a Curtain or Hangings_. When several scenes had to be set one
behind another the device of using a curtain or tapestries was common.
cf. Dryden and Lee's _The Duke of Guise_ (1682), Act v, where after four
or five sets 'the scene draws, behind it a traverse'. We then have the
Duke's assassination--he shrieks out some four lines and dies, whereon
'the traverse is drawn'. The traverse was merely a pair of curtains on a
rod. All the grooves were in use for the scenes already set.
p. 422 _Harpsicals_. A common corruption of harpsicords on the analogy
of virginals. The two 4tos, 1687 and 1688, and the 1711 edition all read
'harpsicals'. 1724 gives 'Harpsicords'.
p. 435 _Ebula_. The Ebelus was a jewel of great price bestowed upon
Gonzales by Irdonozur. He tells us that: 'to say nothing of the colour
(the Lunar whereof I made mention before, which notwithstanding is so
incredibly beautiful, as a man should travel 1000 Leagues to behold it),
the shape is somewhat flat of the breadth of a _Pistolett_, and twice
the thickness. The one side of this, which is somewhat more Orient of
Colour than the other, being clapt to the bare skin of a man, in any
part of his body, it taketh away from it all weight or ponderousness;
whereas turning the other side it addeth force unto the attractive beams
of the Earth, either in this world or that, and maketh the body to weigh
half so much again as it did before.'
p. 446 _Guzman of Salamanca_. A Guzman was a common term of abuse. The
first English translation (by James Mabbe) of Aleman's famous romance
is, indeed, entitled _The Rogue_, and it had as running title _The
Spanish Rogue_. There is a novel by George Fidge entitled _The English
Gusman; or, The History of that Unparalleled Thief James Hind_ (1652,
4to). Salamanca had an unsavoury reputation owing to the fictions of
Titus Gates. cf. _The Rover_ (II), Act v: 'Guzman Medicines.'
p. 446 _Signum Mallis_. This curious phrase, which is both distorted
cant and canine, would appear to mean 'your rogue's phiz'.
p. 446 _Friskin_. 'A gay lively person.'--Halliwell.
p. 446 _Jack of Lent_. A puppet set up to be thrown at; in modern
parlance, 'Aunt Sally'. Hence a butt for all.
p. 451 _Spitchcock'd_. To spitchcock is to split lengthwise, as an eel,
and then broil.
p. 458 _Stentraphon_. A megaphone.
p. 460 _They fight at Barriers_. A comic combat between Harlequin and
Scaramouch forms one of the traditional incidents (_Lazzi_), which occur
repeatedly in the Italian and Franco-Italian farces. cf. Dryden's
Epilogue spoken by Hart when _The Silent Woman_ was played before the
University of Oxford in 1673:--
Th' _Italian_ Merry-Andrews took their place,
And quite debauch'd the Stage with lewd Grimace:
Instead of Wit and Humours, your Delight
Was there to see two Hobby-horses fight,
Stout _Scaramoucha_ with Rush Lance rode in,
And ran a Tilt at Centaure _Arlequin_.
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