A Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. II - Various
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[154] "Shellain" is a corrupted form of Dutch _schelm_--a rogue,
villain.
[155] The stage direction in the MS. runs thus:--"_Enter 1 Burger,
Vandermitten, Grotius." Vandermitten_ finally takes the place of
1 _Burger_ and _Grotius_.
[156] Beneath, in the MS., is written the name of the actor who took the
part, "Mr. Gough."
[157] In the right-hand margin are written the initials "R.T." It is
unknown what actor was the owner of them.
[158] "Jo: Ri:" is written above, and "migh" in the right-hand margin.
[159] "Mr. Rob." took the Captain's part.
[160] This Captain is identical with the one in the previous scene:
"Jo: Rice:" took the part.
[161] In the MS. _Vandermitten_ is scored through, and _Grotius_ written
above; but the alteration is not followed afterwards.
[162] "R.T." was responsible for the part.
[163] In the right-hand margin are the initials "T.P.," i.e. Thomas
Pollard.
[164] In the right hand margin is a stage-direction, scored through,--
"Droms--Enter ye Arminians: pass over."
[165] MS. _Enter Bredero, Vandort_ and 2 Lords. The words in Roman
letters are scored through in the MS.
[166] The brackets are mine: whoever excluded the 2 _Lords_ left these
words standing by an oversight.
[167] These weak endings without a pause are characteristic of
Massinger.
[168] Massinger is fond of the use of parentheses.
[169] In the MS. _Leiden_ has been corrected into _Roterdam_.
[170] The officer was personated by "R.T."
[171] In the right-hand margin we find "Mr. Rice."
[172] The Captains' parts were taken by "Mr. Rob." and "Mighel."
[173] The Dutch word _knol_ signifies both a turnip and a blockhead.
[174] i.e. explain to me. (A very common expression.)
[175] "Fry" has here the unusual sense of "buzz, hiss."
[176] In the right-hand margin we find "Cap. Jo: R."
[177] Underneath is written Migh. who took the part of 1 _Huntsman_.
[178] "And bycause some Hares by haunting the lowe watrie places do
become foule and mesled, such Hares doe never follow the hard ways nor
make such pathes to their formes, but use all their subtleties and
pollecies by the sides of the Ryvers, brookes and other waters."
Turberville's _Booke of Hunting_ (1575), p. 160.
[179] "R.T." took the part.
[180] MS. they.
[181] "Tho: Po:" (i.e. Thomas Pollard) is written in the right-hand
margin.
[182] MS. Potents.
[183] The part was taken by "G. Lowen."
[184] The Wife's part was taken by "Nich", who may possibly be (as Mr.
Fleay suggests) Nicholas Tooley; but I suspect that a younger actor than
Tooley would have been chosen for the part.
[185] "Jo: Rice" took the part.
[186] A corruption of Dutch _kermis_ (the annual fair).
[187] An ironical expression (very common) of denial or astonishment.
[188] _Sc_. merrily (Dutch _lustig_), "Lustick, as the Dutchman says."
--_All's Well_, II. 3.
[189] A corruption of Dutch _brui_. The meaning is "A plague on his
Excellencie!"
[190] In the MS. follow two and a half lines, spoken by _Vandort_, and a
speech of _Barnavelt's_, twenty-four lines long. These were cancelled on
revision. I have succeeded in reading some of the lines; and perhaps
after a keener scrutiny the whole passage might become legible. But I
have no doubt that the lines were cancelled by the author himself
(Massinger?) in order to shorten the scene.
[191] Nearly forty lines of dialogue that follow are cancelled in the
MS., in order to shorten the scene.
[192] Not marked in MS.
[193] This passage is marked in pencil, as for omission, in the MS.
[194] The words "Upon my soule" are crossed through in the MS.
[195] This line and the eleven lines following are marked for omission
in the MS.
[196] The words "tooke that course That now is practisd on you" are
crossed through in the MS., and "cutt of his opposites" substituted in
the right-hand margin.
[197] In the MS. the words "you can apply this" are crossed through.
[198] The words "to a Monarchie" are corrected in the MS. "to another
forme."
[199] Not marked in MS.
[200] Not marked in MS.
[201] T[homas] Holc[ombe] took the part.
[202] "Mr. Rob." took the part.
[203] In the right-hand margin we find the actor's name, "Mr. Bir.,"
i.e. Bir[ch].
[204] "The quantity of ten of any commodity; as a _dicker_ of hides was
ten hides, a _dicker_ of iron ten bars. See 'Fragment. Antiq.,' p. 192.
Probably from _decas_, Lat."--Nares.
[205] Sc. pumpkin (Fr.).
[206] "Dewse-ace. _Deux et az_." Cotgrave. (Cf. _Love's Labour's Lost_,
I. 2.) The lowest cast of the dice, two aces, was called "ames ace."
[207] Among the Romans the highest cast was called _Venus_ and the
lowest _canis_. (Cf. a well-known couplet of Propertius, lib. iv. el.
viii. l. 45--
"Me quoque per talos Venerem quaerente secundos
Semper damnosi subsiluere canes.")
[208] Sc. quatre et trois.
[209] Embroidered, figured.
[210] The actors' names, "Mr. Rob." and "Mr. Rice," are written in the
right-hand margin.
[211] A term of contempt, like "poor John."
[212] To set up one's rest, meant, as has been abundantly shown by
Shakespearean commentators, to stand upon one's cards at _primero_; but
the word "pull" in this connexion is not at all easy to explain. The
general sense of the present passage is plain: "Is my life held in such
paltry esteem that slaves are allowed to gamble for it as for a stake at
cards?" We have nowhere a plain account of _primero_. When the "Compleat
Gamester" was published (in 1674) the game had been discontinued. The
variety of quotations given by Nares, under _Primero_ and _Rest_, is
simply distracting. There are two passages (apud Nares) of Fletcher's
bearing on the present difficulty:--
"My _rest is up_, wench, and I _pull_ for that
Will make me ever famous." _Woman's Prize_, I. 2.
"Faith, sir, my _rest is up_,
And what I now _pull_ shall no more afflict me
Than if I play'd at span-counter." _Monsieur Thomas_, IV. 9.
Dyce accepts Nares' suggestion that _pull_ means to _draw a card_; but
if a player is standing on his cards, why should he want to draw a card?
There is an old expression, to "pull down a side," i.e. to ruin one's
partner (by bad play); and I am inclined to think that to "pull at a
rest" in _primero_ meant to try to pull down (beat, go beyond) the
player who was standing on his cards. The first player might say, "My
rest is up"; the other players might either discard or say, "See it";
then the first player would either "revie" it (cover with a larger sum)
or throw up his cards. At length--for some limitation would have been
agreed upon--the challenger would play his cards, and the opponents
would "pull at his rest"--try to break down his hand. I am not at all
sure that this is the proper explanation; but _pull_ in the text cannot
possibly mean _draw a card_.
[213] The body of Leydenberg was not exposed until two days after
Barneveld's execution.
[214] Charles I. was particularly anxious that these trained bands
should be made as efficient as possible, In the "Analytical Index to the
Series of Records known as the Remembrancia" (printed for the
Corporation of the City of London, 1878) there are several letters from
the Lords of the Council to the Lord Mayor on this subject (pp. 533-9).
The Directions sent round to the Lord Lieutenants (An. 1638) concerning
the Trained Bands of the several counties are given in Rushworth's
_Historical Collections_, Part 2, vol. i. p. 790.
[215] An allusion, of course, to Bardolph's famous definition of
"accommodated" (2 _Henry IV_., iii. 2).
[216] _Fox_ was a cant term for a sword of English make. At Hounslow
Heath there was a sword-blade manufactory:--"Nov 30 (1639). Benjamin
Stone, blade maker, Hounslow Heath, to the Officers of the Ordnance.
Will always be ready to deliver 1,000 swords of all fashions every month
throughout the year, and will put in such security as the office shall
desire. Has now ready at the Tower and in his own house 2,000 swords to
deliver when the officers shall please."--Calendar of State Papers,
Domestic Series, 1639-40, p. 134.
[217] _Ticktacks_ was a game somewhat similar to backgammon. It is
described in the _Compleat Gamester_, 1674.
[218] The Pacification of Berwick took place in June, 1639.
[219] Tobacco-pipefuls; but no doubt a pun was intended. For _Bermudas_
tobacco Nares quotes from _Clitus's Whimz_., p. 135, "Where being
furnished with tinder, match, and a portion of decayed _Bermoodus_ they
smoke it most terribly."
[220] Our forefathers esteemed the March brewing; we the October.
[221] To "build a sconce" means, I suppose, to fix a candle in a
candle-stick.
[222] This speech of Sir Richard's is very much in Shirley's style:
cf. _Lady of Pleasure_ (I. 1).
[223] Galley-foist was the name given to long many-oared barges,
particularly the Lord Mayor's barge of state. Foist is also a term for a
sharper; and gallifoist was intended to be pronounced here gullifoist.
[224] An account of the way to play _Gleek_ is given in the _Compleat
Gamester_, 1674.
[225] Ambergrease was not uncommonly used for culinary purposes.
[226] Father-in-law is often used by old writers for step-father.
Perhaps "by a" is a correction for "to a."
[227] Title, mark of distinction (Hamlet, I. 4, &c.).
[228] A head-covering worn by women. "A night-rail (for a woman) pignon,
pinon," Sherwood's Engl.-French Dict. 1650.
[229] To be "in the suds" was an expression for to be "in the dumps."
[230] Vid. Notes of the Commentators on _Henry V_., iii. 7 ("strait
trossers").
[231] Regals were a kind of small portable organ: vide Nares.
[232] Cf. a passage in Shirley's _Witty Fair One_ (IV. 2): "What makes
so many scholars then come from Oxford or Cambridge like market-women
with dorsers full of lamentable tragedies and ridiculous comedies which
they might here vent to the players, but they will take no money for
them?"
[233] The Theorbo was a kind of lute.
[234] On June 20, 1632, a royal proclamation was made "commanding the
Gentry to keep their Residence in at their Mansions in the Country, and
forbidding them to make their habitations in London and places
adjoining." The text of the proclamation is in Rushworth's Historical
Collections (1680), Pt. II. vol. i. p. 144. In a very interesting little
volume of unpublished poems, temp. Charles I. (MS. 15,228, British
Museum), there is an "Oade by occasion of his Maiesties Proclamatyon for
Gentlemen to goe into the Country." It is too long to quote here in
full, but I will give a few stanzas:--
Nor lett the Gentry grudge to goe
Into the places where they grew,
Butt thinke them blest they may doe so:
Who would pursue
The smoaky gloryes of the Towne,
That might goe till his Native Earth
And by the shineing fyre sitt downe
Of his own hearth;
Free from the gripeing Scriv'ners bands
And the more biteing Mercers bookes,
Free from the bayte of oyled hands
And painted lookes?
The Country, too, eene chops for rayne:
You that exhale it by your pow'r,
Let the fatt drops fall downe again
In a full show'r.
And you, bright beautyes of the time,
That spend your selves here in a blaze,
Fixe to your Orbe and proper Clime
Your wandring Rayes.
Lett no dark corner of the Land
Bee unimbellisht with one Gemme,
And those which here too thick doe stand
Sprinkle on them.
And, trust mee, Ladyes, you will find
In that sweet life more sollid joyes,
More true contentment to the minde,
Then all Towne-Toyes.
Nor Cupid there less blood doth spill,
Butt heads his shafts with chaster love,
Not feath'red with a Sparrow's quill
Butt of a Dove.
There may you heare the Nightingale,
The harmeless Syren of the wood,
How prettily shee tells a tale
Of rape and blood.
Plant trees you may and see them shoot
Up with your Children, to bee serv'd
To your cleane Board, and the fayr'st fruite
To bee preserved;
And learne to use their sev'rall gumms.
Tis innocente in the sweet blood
Of Cherrys, Apricocks and Plumms
To bee imbru'd.
[235] The Galliard, a lively French dance described in Sir John Davies'
_Orchestra_ (st. 67).
[236] Sc. good-bye. Cf. Shirley's _Constant Maid_, i. 1, "Buoy, _Close_,
buoy, honest _Close_: we are blanks, blanks."
[237] Can the reference be to _Troilus and Cressida_?
[238] Ben Jonson's _Alchemist_.
[239] Puisne (i.e. puny) was the term applied to students at the Inns of
Court; also to Freshmen at Oxford.
[240] Cf. Shirley's _Honoria and Mammon_, i. 2:
"Go to your Lindabrides
I'the new brothel; she's a handsome _leveret_."
[241] The first edition of this well-known book was published in 1628.
_Parsons Resolutions_ is a fictitious book.
[242] The "lamentable ballad of the Lady's Fall" has been reprinted by
Ritson and Percy.
[243] In the MS. follows a line, scored through:--
"And while my footman plaies sigh out my part."
[244] Shirley delights in ridiculing the affectation in which the
gallants of his time indulged. Cf. a very similar passage in _The Lady
of Pleasure_, v. 1.
[245] The cant language of thieves. In Harman's _Caveat for Cursitors_,
or some of Dekker's tracts, "Pedlars' French" may be found in abundance.
[246] I print this passage exactly as I find it in the MS. With a little
trouble it might be turned into good law.
[247] _Aut Shirley aut Diabolus_. Cf. _Duke's Mistress_, iv. 1:
"You shall lead destiny in cords of silk,
And it shall follow tame and to your pleasure."
[248] Sc. swaggering.
[249] A Chrisome child was one that died within a month after birth, at
the time of wearing the Chrisome cloth (i.e. the cloth formerly wrapt
round a child after baptism). Device implies that his rival is perfectly
helpless among ladies, a mere child.
[250] "In the City of London," says Nares, "young freemen who march at
the head of their proper companies on the lord mayor's day, sometimes
with flags, were called _whifflers_ or _bachelor whifflers_, not because
they cleared the way but because they went first as whifflers did.--'I
look'd the next Lord Mayor's day to see you o' the livery, or one of the
_bachelor_ whifflers. _City Match_.'"
[251] These words are scored through in the MS.
[252] To "bear a brain" means to have understanding. The expression is
very common.
[253] Not marked in the MS.
[254] The earliest reference I have yet found to the "Cup at
_Newmarket_" is in Shirley's _Hyde Park_, v. 1.
[255] The exact date of his death is unknown; he was dead before the
performance of Ben Jonson's _Bartholomew Fair_ (1614).
[256] "Merlin. The _falco aesalon_ of Linnaeus, a small species of hawk;
sometimes corrupted into murleon. It was chiefly used to fly at small
birds, and Latham says it was particularly appropriated to the service
of ladies."--Nares.
[257] Thomas Heywood gives an account of the "great ship" in his "True
description of his Majesties Royall Ship built this yeare 1637 at
Wool-witch in Kent," &c. 1637. 4to.
[258] "Back side" = back yard.
[259] A wild cat.
[260] This scene was added, as an afterthought, at the end of the MS. In
the body of the MS. we find only "_A song ith taverne. Enter Thomas_."
[261] The stage direction is my own.
[262] All that I know at present of Mr. Adson is that he published in
1621 a collection of "Courtly Masquing Ayres."
[263] A corruption of "_save-reverence_": we usually find the form
"sir-reverence."
[264] i.e. drunk.
[265] An allusion to Webster's "_Vittoria Coromborea, or the White
Devil_."
[266] Not marked in MS. We have, instead, a note:--
_"And then begin as was intended."_
[267] Old authors constantly allude to the riotous conduct of the
'prentices on Shrove Tuesday.
[268] This is a correction (in the MS.) for "to a Beggars tune."
[269] So in Dekker & Middleton's _First Part of the Honest Whore_
(IV. 3):--
"_A sister's thread_ i' faith had been enough."
Dyce was no doubt right in thinking that the expression is a corruption
of _sewster's_ thread. In Ford's _Lady's Trial_, Gifford altered
"sister's thread" to "_silver_ thread." Shirley has "sister's thread" in
_Hyde Park_ (V. 1).
[270] With this abuse cf. a very similar passage in Shirley's _Duke's
Mistress_ (IV. 1).
[271] The _Woman Hater_ in Beaumont and Fletcher's play.
[272] "Canaries" was the name of a quick, lively dance. Cf. Middlemen's
_Spanish Gipsy_ (IV. 2): "Fortune's a scurvy whore if she makes not my
head sound like a rattle and my heels dance the canaries."
[273] Cf. a similar passage in Shirley's _Brothers_ (iii. 1).
[274] In Sidney's _Arcadia_.
[275] Cf. Jonson's _Every Man out of his Humour_, II. 1: "They say
there's a new motion of the city of _Niniveh_ with _Jonas_ and the whale
to be seen at _Fleet bridge_." (A _motion_, of course, is a puppet-show.)
[276] This line occurs, word for word, in Shirley's _Bird in a Cage_
(IV. 1):--
... "A bird to be made much on. She and the horse
_That snorts at Spain by an instinct of nature_
Should have shown tricks together."
[277] An allusion to the game of "barley-break."
[278] In the MS. the speaker's name is omitted. I have chosen
_Courtwell_ at a venture.
[279] _Holland's Leaguer_ was the name of a notorious brothel in
Southwark.
[280] _The Tell-Tale_. Through the courtesy of the Master, Dr. Carver, I
have had an opportunity of examining this play. It is of no particular
interest. The comic part is very poor, suggesting William Rowley at his
worst. Here are some fair lines, the best I can find:--
_Fide[lio]_. How? dead in prison?
_Duke_. Dead, _Fidelio_:
Things of theire nature, like [a] vipers brood,
Kill their owne parents. But having sett the Court
In some good order, my next busines
Ys thus disguis'd to overlooke the Camp;
For a rude army, like a plott of ground
Left to yt selfe, growes to a wildernes
Peopled with wolves & tigers, should not the prince
Like to a carefull gardner see yt fenct,
Waterd & weeded with industrious care,
That hee ithe time of pruning nether spare
Weeds for faire looks and painted bravery, nor
Cut downe good hearbs and serviceable for
Theire humble growth: the violet that is borne
Under a hedg outsmells the blossomd thorne
That dwells fare higher.
_Fide_. Yare full of goodnes & have layd out much
In provision for the whole state.
_Duke_. My place: I am overseer
And bound to seet provided for by pattent.
For as the sunn, when lesser plannets sleep,
Holds his continued progresse on and keepes
A watchful eye over the world, so kings
(When meaner subjects have their revillings
And sports about them) move in a restless herde;
The publique safty is theyr privat care.
But now farewell; the army once surveighd
Expect mee here.
_Fid_. Your pleasure bee obaid.
[281] A few years ago I suggested in "Notes and Queries" that this
unknown author was Cyril Tourneur. Afterwards I discovered that I had
been anticipated by Thomas Lovell Beddoes. Curiously enough Mr. Fleay
had independently arrived at the same conclusion. Mr. Swinburne (_Essay
on Chapman_) is inclined to attribute the _Second Maiden's Tragedy_ to
Middleton.
[282] The next scene is marked _Act 2, Scene 1_.