A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. IX - Various
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_Enter_ BUTLER.
Their souls, their souls, their souls.
How now, master? nay, you are my master;
Is my wife's sheets warm? does she kiss well?
BUT. Good sir.
SCAR. Foh! make't not strange, for in these days,
There's many men lie in their masters' sheets,
And so may you in mine, and yet--your business, sir?
BUT. There's one in civil habit, sir, would speak with you.
SCAR. In civil habit?
BUT. He is of seemly rank, sir, and calls himself
By the name of Doctor Baxter of Oxford.
SCAR. That man undid me; he did blossoms blow,
Whose fruit proved poison, though 'twas good in show:
With him I'll parley, and disrobe my thoughts
Of this wild frenzy that becomes me not.
A table, candles, stools, and all things fit,
I know he comes to chide me, and I'll hear him:
With our sad conference we will call up tears,
Teach doctors rules, instruct succeeding years:
Usher him in:
Heaven spare a drop from thence, where's bounteous throng:
Give patience to my soul, inflame my tongue.
_Enter_ DOCTOR.
DOC. Good Master Scarborow.
SCAR. You are most kindly welcome, sooth, ye are.
DOC. I have important business to deliver you.
SCAR. And I have leisure to attend your hearing.
DOC. Sir, you know I married you.
SCAR. I know you did, sir.
DOC. At which you promis'd both to God and men,
Your life unto your spouse should be like snow,
That falls to comfort, not to overthrow:
And love unto your issue should be like
The dew of heaven, that hurts not, though it strike:
When heaven and men did witness and record
'Twas an eternal oath, no idle word:
Heaven, being pleased therewith, bless'd you with children,
And at heaven's blessings all good men rejoice.
So that God's chair and footstool, heaven and earth,
Made offering at your nuptials as a knot
To mind you of your vow; O, break it not.
SCAR. 'Tis very true[434].
DOC. Now, sir, from this your oath and band[435],
Faith's pledge and seal of conscience you have run,
Broken all contracts, and the forfeiture
Justice hath now in suit against your soul:
Angels are made the jurors, who are witnesses
Unto the oath you took, and God himself,
Maker of marriage, he that seal'd the deed,
As a firm lease unto you during life,
Sits now as judge of your transgression:
The world informs against you with this voice:
If such sins reign, what mortals can rejoice?
SCAR. What then ensues to me?
DOC. A heavy doom, whose execution's
Now serv'd upon your conscience, that ever
You shall feel plagues, whom time shall not dissever;
As in a map your eyes see all your life,
Bad words, worse deeds, false oaths, and all the injuries,
You have done unto your soul: then comes your wife,
Full of woe's drops, and yet as full of pity,
Who though she speaks not, yet her eyes are swords[436],
That cut your heart-strings: and then your children--
SCAR. O, O, O!
DOC. Who, what they cannot say, talk in their looks;
You have made us up, but as misfortune's books,
Whom other men may read in, when presently,
Task'd by yourself, you are not, like a thief,
Astonied, being accus'd, but scorch'd with grief.
SCAR. I, I, I.
DOC. Here stand your wife's tears.
SCAR. Where?
DOC. And you fry for them: here lie your children's wants.
SCAR. Here?
DOC. For which you pine, in conscience burn,
And wish you had been better, or ne'er born.
SCAR. Does all this happen to a wretch like me?
DOC. Both this and worse; your soul eternally
Shall live in torment, though the body die.
SCAR. I shall have need of drink then: Butler!
DOC. Nay, all your sins are on your children laid,
For the offences that the father made.
SCAR. Are they, sir?
DOC. Be sure they are.
_Enter_ BUTLER.
SCAR. Butler!
BUT. Sir.
SCAR. Go fetch my wife and children hither.
BUT. I will, sir.
SCAR. I'll read a lecture[437] to the doctor too,
He's a divine? ay, he's a divine. [_Aside_.]
BUT. I see his mind is troubled, and have made bold with duty to read a
letter tending to his good; have made his brothers friends: both which
I will conceal till better temper. He sends me for his wife and children;
shall I fetch them? [_Aside_.
SCAR. He's a divine, and this divine did marry me:
That's good, that's good. [_Aside_.
DOC. Master Scarborow.
SCAR. I'll be with you straight, sir.
BUT. I will obey him,
If anything doth happen that is ill,
Heaven bear me record, 'tis 'gainst my will. [_Exit_.
SCAR. And this divine did marry me,
Whose tongue should be the key to open truth,
As God's ambassador. Deliver, deliver, deliver. [_Aside_.
DOC. Master Scarborow.
SCAR. I'll be with you straight, sir:
Salvation to afflicted consciences,
And not give torment to contented minds,
Who should be lamps to comfort out our way,
And not like firedrakes[438] to lead men astray,
Ay, I'll be with you straight, sir.
_Enter_ BUTLER, [_with Wife and Children_].
BUT. Here's your wife and children, sir.
SCAR. Give way, then,
I have my lesson perfect; leave us here.
BUT. Yes, I will go, but I will be so near,
To hinder the mishap, the which I fear.
[_Exit_ BUTLER.
SCAR. Now, sir, you know this gentlewoman?
DOC. Kind Mistress Scarborow.
SCAR. Nay, pray you keep your seat, for you shall hear
The same affliction you have taught me fear,
Due to yourself.
DOC. To me, sir?
SCAR. To you, sir.
You match'd me to this gentlewoman?
DOC. I know I did, sir.
SCAR. And you will say she is my wife then.
DOC. I have reason, sir, because I married you.
SCAR. O, that such tongues should have the time to lie,
Who teach men how to live, and how to die;
Did not you know my soul had given my faith,
In contract to another? and yet you
Would join this loom unto unlawful twists.
DOC. Sir?
SCAR. But, sir,
You that can see a mote within my eye,
And with a cassock blind your own defects,
I'll teach you this: 'tis better to do ill,
That's never known to us, than of self-will.
Stand these[439], all these, in thy seducing eye,
As scorning life, make them be glad to die.
DOC. Master Scarborow--
SCAR. Here will I write that they, which marry wives,
Unlawful live with strumpets all their lives.
Here will I seal the children that are born,
From wombs unconsecrate, even when their soul
Has her infusion, it registers they are foul,
And shrinks to dwell with them, and in my close
I'll show the world, that such abortive men
Knit hands without free tongues, look red like them
Stand you and you to acts most tragical:
Heaven has dry eyes, when sin makes sinners fall.
DOC. Help, Master Scarborow.
CHIL. Father.
KATH. Husband.
SCAR. These for thy act should die, she for my Clare,
Whose wounds stare thus upon me for revenge.
These to be rid from misery, this from sin,
And thou thyself shalt have a push amongst them,
That made heaven's word a pack-horse to thy tongue,
Quot'st Scripture to make evil shine like good!
And as I send you thus with worms to dwell,
Angels applaud it as a deed done well.
_Enter_ BUTLER.
DOC. Stay him, stay him.
BUT. What will you do, sir?
SCAR. Make fat worms of stinking carcases.
What hast thou to do with it?
_Enter_ ILFORD _and his Wife, the two Brothers,
and_ SIR WILLIAM SCARBOROW.
BUT. Look, who are here, sir?
SCAR. Injurious villain! that prevent'st me still.
BUT. They are your brothers and alliance, sir.
SCAR. They are like full ordnance then who, once discharg'd,
Afar off give a warning to my soul,
That I have done them wrong.
SIR WIL. Kinsman.
BRO. AND SIS. Brother.
KATH. Husband.
CHIL. Father.
SCAR. Hark, how their words like bullets shoot me thorough,
And tell me I have undone them: this side might say,
We are in want, and you are the cause of it;
This points at me, y'are shame unto your house:
This tongue says nothing, but her looks do tell
She's married, but as those that live in hell:
Whereby all eyes are but misfortune's pipe,
Fill'd full of woe by me: this feels the stripe.
BUT. Yet look, sir,
Here's your brothers hand in hand, whom I have knit so.
SIS. And look, sir, here's my husband's hand in mine,
And I rejoice in him, and he in me.
SIR WIL. I say, cos, what is pass'd is the way to bliss,
For they know best to mend, that know amiss.
KATH. We kneel: forget, and say if you but love us,
You gave us grief for future happiness.
SCAR. What's all this to my conscience?
BUT. Ease, promise of succeeding joy to you;
Read but this letter.
SIR WIL. Which tells you that your lord and guardian's dead.
BUT. Which tells you that he knew he did you wrong,
Was griev'd for't, and for satisfaction
Hath given you double of the wealth you had.
BRO. Increas'd our portions.
WIFE. Given me a dowry too.
BUT. And that he knew,
Your sin was his, the punishment his due.
SCAR. All this is here:
Is heaven so gracious to sinners then?
BUT. Heaven is, and has his gracious eyes,
To give men life, not life-entrapping spies.
SCAR. Your hand--yours--yours--to my soul: to you a kiss;
In troth I am sorry I have stray'd amiss;
To whom shall I be thankful? all silent?
None speak? whist! why then to God,
That gives men comfort as he gives his rod;
Your portions I'll see paid, and I will love you,
You three I'll live withal, my soul shall love you!
You are an honest servant, sooth you are;
To whom? I, these, and all must pay amends;
But you I will admonish in cool terms,
Let not promotion's hope be as a string,
To tie your tongue, or let it loose to sting.
DOC. From hence it shall not, sir.
SCAR. Then husbands thus shall nourish with their wives.
[_Kiss_.
ILF. As thou and I will, wench.
SCAR. Brothers in brotherly love thus link together
[_Embrace_.
Children and servants pay their duty thus.
[_Bow and kneel_.
And are all pleas'd?
ALL. We are.
SCAR. Then, if all these be so,
I am new-wed, so ends all marriage woe;
And, in your eyes so lovingly being wed,
We hope your hands will bring us to our bed.
FINIS.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Baldwin's "Old English Drama," 2 vols. 12mo.
[2] From the similarity of the names, it seems the author originally
intended to make Young Lusam the son of Old Lusam and brother of
Mistress Arthur, but afterwards changed his intention: in page 13 the
latter calls him a stranger to her, although he is the intimate friend
of her husband.
[3] [Old copy, _walk_.]
[4] Busk-point, the lace with its tag which secured the end of the busk,
a piece of wood or whalebone worn by women in front of the stays to keep
them straight.
[5] [Old copies, _Study_.]
[6] [Old copy, _watch_.]
[7] [Old copies, _dream_.]
[8] [All Fuller's speeches must be supposed to be _Asides_.]
[9] [Old copies give this line to Fuller.]
[10] Old copies, _she_.
[11] Old copies, _bene_; but the schoolmaster is made to blunder, so
that _bene_ may, after all, be what the author wrote.
[12] The rod, made of a willow-wand.
[13] Old copy, _how_.
[14] [Old copies, _laid_.]
[15] [A quotation.]
[16] _Christ-cross_, the alphabet.
[17] [The sense appears to be, for this not being perfect poison, as his
(the pedant's) meaning is to poison himself, some covetous slave will
sell him real poison.]
[18] [Old copies, _seem'd_.]
[19] [Old copies, _First_.]
[20] [Massinger, in his "City Madam," 1658, uses this word in the sense
of _above the law_. Perhaps Young Arthur may intend to distinguish
between a civil and religious contract.]
[21] [See Hazlitt's "Proverbs," 1869, p. 90.]
[22] [i.e., The _hoar_-frost.]
[23] [Old copy, _flies upon_.]
[24] [This line has been seriously corrupted, and it might be impossible
to restore the true reading. The old copies have: _Ask, he knew me, a
means_, &c.]
[25] [Having, however, been written and acted some years before it was
printed in 1606.]
[26] _Sloughing hotcockles_ is a sport still retained among children.
The diversion is of long standing, having been in use with the ancients.
See Pollux, lib. ix. In the copy it is spelt _slauging_.
[27] Old copy, _which_.
[28] [So in Wybarne's "New Age of Old Names," 1609, p. 12: "But stay, my
friend: Let it be first manifest that my Father left Land, and then we
will rather agree at home, then suffer the Butler's Boxe to winne all."
The phrase occurs again in "Ram Alley," 1611.]
[29] [So the old copy, and rightly. Forne is a contracted form of
_beforne_, a good old English word. Hawkins printed _fore_.]
[30] Query, if this be not a fling at Shakespeare? See "Cymbeline."
--_Hawkins_. [Scarcely, for there are two sons recovered in that play,
and the incident of finding a long-lost child is not an uncommon one
in the drama. We have a daughter thus found in Pericles.--_Ebsworth_.]
[31] [Some of the old copies read _make_.]
[32] Old copy, _furens_.
[33] Old copy, _lanching_.
[34] [Old copies, _is_.]
[35] [It is probably well known that on the early stage vinegar was used
where there was a necessity for representing bloodshed. Compare the
passage in Preston's "Cambyses," iv. 217.]
[36] Old copy, _utensilies_.
[37] Old copy, _sly_.
[38] Old copy, _soure_.
[39] [Old copy, _clear the vsuall_, &c.]
[40] "Belvidere; or, The Garden of the Muses," 8vo, 1600, in which are
quoted sentences out of Spenser, Constable, and the rest, digested under
a commonplace. [Another edition in 1610. It is a book of no value or
interest.]
[41] [Left blank in the old copy. The ostensible editor of "Belvidere"
was John Bodenham, but he is evidently not the person referred to here.]
[42] [Alluding to the device on the title of the volume.]
[43] [Two of the old copies read _swifter_.]
[44] [Some copies read _S.D_.]
[45] As the works of some of the poets here cited are become obscure, it
may not be unacceptable to the reader to see a few specimens of their
several abilities. Constable was esteemed the first sonneteer of his
time, and the following sonnet, prefixed to King James I.'s "Poetical
Exercises" was the most admired--
TO THE KING OF SCOTLAND.
"When others hooded with blind love do fly
Low on the ground with buzzard Cupid's wings,
A heavenly love from love of love thee brings,
And makes thy Muse to mount above the sky:
Young Muses be not wont to fly so high,
Age school'd by time such sober ditties sings,
But thy love flies from love of youthful things,
And so the wings of time doth overfly.
Thus thou disdain'st all worldly wings as slow,
Because thy Muse with angels' wings doth leave
Time's wings behind, and Cupid's wings below;
But take thou heed, lest Fame's wings thee deceive,
With all thy speed from fame thou canst not flee,--
But more thou flees, the more it follows thee."
[46] Lodge was a physician as well as a poet; he was the author of two
plays, and eminent, in his day, for writing elegant odes, pastoral
songs, sonnets, and madrigals. His "Euphues' Golden Legacy" was printed
4to, 1590, from which some suppose Shakespeare took his "As You Like
It." Description of spring by Lodge--
"The earth late choak'd with showers,
Is now array'd in green,
Her bosom springs with flowers,
The air dissolves her teen;
The woods are deck'd with leaves,
And trees are clothed gay,
And Flora, crown'd with sheaves,
With oaken boughs doth play;
The birds upon the trees
Do sing with pleasant voices,
And chant, in their degrees,
Their loves and lucky choices."
[47] Watson was contemporary with, and imitator of, Sir Philip Sydney,
with Daniel, Lodge, Constable, and others, in the pastoral strain of
sonnets, &c. Watson thus describes a beautiful woman--
"Her yellow locks exceed the beaten gold,
Her sparkling eyes in heav'n a place deserve.
Her forehead high and fair, of comely mould;
Her words are music all, of silver sound.
Her wit so sharp, as like can scarce be found:
Each eyebrow hangs, like Iris in the skies,
Her eagle's nose is straight, of stately frame,
On either cheek a rose and lily lies,
Her breath is sweet perfume or holy flame;
Her lips more red than any coral stone,
Her neck more white than aged swans that moan:
Her breast transparent is, like crystal rock,
Her fingers long, fit for Apollo's lute,
Her slipper such, as Momus dare not mock;
Her virtues are so great as make me mute:
What other parts she hath I need not say,
Whose face alone is cause of my decay."
[48] [This passage is a rather important piece of evidence in favour of
the identity of the poet with the physician.]
[49] [Sir] John Davis [author of "Nosce Teipsum," &c.]
[50] Old copy, _sooping_.
[51] Lock and Hudson were the Bavius and Maevius of that time. The
latter gives us this description of fear--
"Fear lendeth wings to aged folk to fly,
And made them mount to places that were high;
Fear made the woful child to wail and weep,
For want of speed on foot and hands to creep."
[Hudson, however, enjoyed some repute in his time, and is known as the
translator from Du Bartas of the "History of Judith," 8vo, 1584. Lock
published in 1597 a volume containing an English version of
"Ecclesiastes" and a series of sonnets.]
[52] John Marston, a bold and nervous writer in Elizabeth's reign: the
work here censured was, no doubt, his "Scourge of Villanie, 3 Books of
Satyrs," 1598.
[53] Marlowe's character is well marked in these lines: he was an
excellent poet, but of abandoned morals, and of the most impious
principles; a complete libertine and an avowed atheist. He lost his life
in a riotous fray; for, detecting his servant with his mistress, he
rushed into the room with a dagger in order to stab him, but the man
warded off the blow by seizing Marlowe's wrist, and turned the dagger
into his own head: he languished some time of the wound he received, and
then died, [in] the year 1593.--_A. Wood_.
[54] [Omitted in some copies.]
[55] [Omitted in some copies.]
[56] Churchyard wrote Jane Shore's Elegy in "Mirror for Magistrates,"
4to, [1574. It is reprinted, with additions, in his "Challenge," 1593.]
[57] Isaac Walton, in his "Life of Hooker," calls Nash a man of a sharp
wit, and the master of a scoffing, satirical, merry pen. His satirical
vein was chiefly exerted in prose; and he is said to have more
effectually discouraged and nonplussed Penry, the most notorious
anti-prelate, Richard Harvey the astrologer, and their adherents, than
all serious writers who attacked them. That he was no mean poet will
appear from the following description of a beautiful woman--
"Stars fall to fetch fresh light from her rich eyes,
Her bright brow drives the sun to clouds beneath,
Her hairs' reflex with red streaks paint the skies,
Sweet morn and evening dew falls from her breath."
[58] Ital. _stocco_, or long rapier.
[59] A tusk.
[60] [Some copies read _turne_.]
[61] [John Danter, the printer. Nash, it will be remembered, was called
by Harvey _Danter's man_, because some of his books came from that
press. See the next scene.]
[62] [A few corrections have been ventured upon in the French and Latin
scraps, as the speaker does not appear to have been intended to blunder.]
[63] [Old copies, _procures_.]
[64] [Old copies, _thanked_.]
[65] [Old copies, _Fly--revengings_.]
[66] [Old copy, _gale_.]
[67] [Old copy, _gracis_.]
[68] [Old copy, _filthy_.]
[69] [Old copies, _seat_.]
[70] [In the old copy the dialogue is as usual given so as to make utter
nonsense, which was apparently not intended.]
[71] [Furor Poeticus apostrophises Apollo, the Muses, &c., who are not
present.]
[72] [Old copy, _Den_.]
[73] [Alluding to the blindness of puppies.]
[74] [Man.]
[75] [Old copy, _skibbered_.]
[76] [i.e., my very mate.]
[77] [In old copy this line is given to Phantasma.]
[78] [i.e., _face_. Old copy, _race_.]
[79] [Rent or distracted. A play is intended on the double meaning of
the word.]
[80] [So in the old copy, being an abbreviation, _rhythmi causa_, of
Philomusus.]
[81] [Old copy, _Mossy_; but in the margin is printed _Most like_, as if
it was an afterthought, and the correction had been stamped in.]
[82] [Old copy, _playing_.]
[83] _No_ omitted.
[84] [This is the old mythological tradition inverted.]
[85] The bishop's examining chaplain, so called from apposer. In a will
of James I.'s reign, the curate of a parish is to appose the children of
a charity-school. The term _poser_ is still retained in the schools at
[St Paul's,] Winchester and Eton. Two Fellows are annually deputed by
the Society of New College in Oxford and King's College in Cambridge to
appose or try the abilities of the boys who are to be sped to the
fellowships that shall become vacant in the ensuing year.
[86] [The old copy gives this to the next act and scene; but Amoretto
seems to offer the remark in immediate allusion to what has just passed.
After all, the alteration is not very vital, as, although a new act and
scene are marked, Academico and Amoretto probably remain on the stage.]
[87] Good.
[88] [Old copy, _caches_. A _rache_ is a dog that hunts by scent wild
beasts, birds, and even fishes; the female is called a _brache_.]
[89] [See Halliwell's "Dictionary," i. 115.]
[90] [He refers to Amoretto himself.]
[91] [Halliwell, in his "Dictionary," _v. rheum (s.)_, defines it to
mean _spleen, caprice_. He does not cite it as a verb. I suppose the
sense here to be _ruminating_.]
[92] Old copy, _ravished_.
[93] [A play on _personage_ and _parsonage_, which were formerly
interchangeable terms, as both had originally one signification.]
[94] [Queen Elizabeth was born September 7, 1533; not her birthday,
therefore, but her accession (17th November 1558), at the death of her
sister Mary, is referred to by Immerito and Sir Raderic. Elizabeth died
March 24, 1602-3. Inasmuch as there is this special reference in "The
Return from Parnassus" to the Queen's day, and not to King James's day,
we have a certain evidence that the play was written by or before the
end of 1602-3. See also what may be drawn from the reference to the
siege of Ostend, 1601-4, at the close of act iii. sc. 3 _post_
--additional evidence for 1602.--_Ebsworth_.]
[95] [Old copy, _I tooke of_, which seems nonsense.]
[96] [So old copy. Hawkins altered the word unnecessarily to
_thatched_.]
[97] [Bespeaketh. Old copies, _rellish_.]
[98] Old copy, _bites a lip_.
[99] [So in old copy, but should we not read _London?--Ebsworth_.]
[100] [There are three references to Ostend in this play. The town bore
a siege from 1601 to 1604, when it surrendered by capitulation. The
besieged lost 50,000 men, and the Spaniards still more. The expression,
"He is as glad as if he had taken Ostend," surely proves that this play
was written after the beginning of 1601 and the commencement of the
siege. It does not prove it to have been written after 1604, but, I
think, strongly indicates the contrary.--_Ebsworth_. Is it not possible
that the passage was introduced into the play when printed, and was not
in the original MS.?]
[101] [So the old copies. Hawkins altered it to _delicacies_.]
[102] [Poor must be pronounced as a dissyllable.]
[103] [From _marry_ to _terms_ is omitted in one of the Oxford copies
and in Dr Ingleby's.]
[104] [Old copy, _puppet_.]
[105] [One of the copies at Oxford, and Dr Ingleby's, read _nimphs_. Two
others misprint _mips_.]
[106] [Old copy, _wail_.]
[107] Old copy, _and_.
[108] [Both the Oxford copies read _teate_.]
[109] [Both the Oxford copies have _beare_.]
[110] [Some of the copies, _break_.]
[111] To _moot_ is to plead a mock cause; to state a point of law by way
of exercise, a common practice in the inns of court.
[112] Old copy, _facility_.
[113] [Old copy, _high_.]
[114] [A slight departure from Ovid.]
[115] To _come off_ is equivalent to the modern expression to _come
down_, to pay sauce, to pay dearly, &c. In this sense Shakespeare uses
the phrase in "Merry Wives of Windsor," act iv. sc. 6. The host says,
"They [the Germans] shall have my horses, but I'll make them pay, I'll
sauce them. They have had my house a week at command; I have turned away
my other guests. They must come off; I'll sauce them." An eminent critic
says to _come off_ is to go scot-free; and this not suiting the context,
he bids us read, they must _compt off_, i.e., clear their reckoning.
[116] Old copy, _Craboun_.
[117] [Talons.]
[118] _Gramercy_: great thanks, _grand merci_; or I thank ye, _Je vous
remercie_. In this sense it is constantly used by our first writers. A
very great critic pronounces it an obsolete expression of surprise,
contracted from _grant me mercy_; and cites a passage in "Titus
Andronicus" to illustrate his sense of it; but, it is presumed, that
passage, when properly pointed, confirms the original acceptation--
CHIRON. Demetrius, here's the son of Lucius,
He hath some message to deliver us.
AARON. Ay, some mad message from his mad grandfather.
BOY. My lords, with all the humbleness I may,
I greet your honours from Andronicus--
And pray the Roman gods confound you both. [_Aside_.