A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. VIII (4th edition) - Various
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--"Faerie Queene," b. ii. c. iii. st. 18.
[205] _Manchet_ is fine white bread: _panis candidior et purior_.
[206] It seems agreed by the commentators on the word _proface_ (which
Shakespeare uses in "Henry IV. Part II.," act v. sc. 3), that it means
in fact what Robin Hood has already said: "Much good may it do you." It
is disputed whether it be derived from the French or the Italian; Mr
Todd gives _prouface_ as the etymology, and Malone _pro vi faccia_, but
in fact they are one and the same. It occurs in "The Widow's Tears," act
iv. sc. 1, where Ero is eating and drinking in the tomb. [Compare Dyce's
"Shakespeare," 1868, Gloss, in v.]
[207] The 4to terms them _poting_ sticks, and so sometimes they were
called, instead of _poking_ sticks. They were used to plait and set
ruffs.
[208] The old copy here repeats, in part, the preceding stage direction,
viz., _Enter Friar like a pedlar, and Jenny_, which must be an error, as
they are already on the stage; in fact, only Sir Doncaster and his armed
followers enter. The _exit_ of Robin Hood, with Marian and Fitzwater, is
not noticed.
[209] i.e., Thrive.
[210] The rhyme is made out by reading _certainly_, but the old copy,
[which is printed as prose.] has it _certain_.
[211] This stage direction, like many others, is not marked.
[212] So in "Henry VI. Part III." act iii. sc. 3: "Did I _impale_ him
with the regal crown?" This use of the word is common.
[213] [Old copy, _light_.]
[214] See Mr Steevens' note on "Henry VIII.," act v. sc. 3.
[215] These two lines clearly belong to the Prior, though the old copy
omits his name before them.
[216] i.e., Vengeance.
[217] [Old copy, _Souldans_.]
[218] In the old copy _soldiour's_.
[219] See Mr Gifford's note (6) to "The Maid of Honour," Massinger's
Works, iii. 47, for an explanation of the origin and use of this
expression of contempt. See also Malone's remarks upon the passage in
"Twelfth Night," act iii. sc. 4: "He is a knight dubb'd with an
unhatch'd rapier and on _carpet_ consideration."
[220] On the standard by which Leicester was attended on his entrance,
no doubt the crest of that family, viz., a bear and ragged staff, was
represented. To this the queen refers when she exclaims--
"Were this _bear_ loose, how he would tear our maws."
[221] [Old copy, _Bear, thou hast_. Leicester was accompanied by his
ancient, whose entrance is marked above.]
[222] _Quite_ is frequently used for _requite_: as in Massinger's "Old
Law," act ii. sc. 2--
"In troth, Eugenia, I have cause to weep too;
But when I visit, I come comfortably,
And look to be so _quited_."
[223] Although the old copy mentions no more at the beginning of this
interview than _Enter Leicester, drum and ancient_, yet according to
this speech he must either have been more numerously attended, or some
of his followers came upon the stage during his dispute with the king
and queen.
[224] The return of Leicester and Richmond, after their _exit_ just
before, is not mentioned in the 4to.
[225] [Old copy, _Come off, off_.]
[226] _Guests_ were often formerly spelt _guess_, whether it were or
were not necessary for the rhyme.
[227] The stage direction in the original is only _Enter Robin_.
[228] This must have been spoken aside to Robin Hood.
[229] [Old copy, _soon_.]
[230] [This passage appears to point to some antecedent drama not at
present known.]
[231] The 4to has it _Damn'd Judaism_, but the allusion is to the
treachery of Judas. The jailer of Nottingham afterwards calls Warman
Judas.
[232] [Old copy, _him_.]
[233] In the old copy this is made a part of what Warman speaks, which
is a mistake, as is evident from the context.
[234] Her _exit_ and re-entrance are not marked in the old copy. Perhaps
she only speaks from a window.
[235] ["A term of contempt," says Halliwell in v.; but does it not
refer strictly to a card-sharper?]
[236] He blunders. Of course he means "when tidings came to his ears."
He does not make much better of his prose.
[237] Current.
[238] This is from the old ballad, "The Jolly Pinder of Wakefield, with
Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John," with variations--
"At Michaelmas next my cov'nant comes out
When every man gathers his fee;
Then I'll take my blue blade all in my hand,
And plod to the greenwood with thee."
--Ritson's "Robin Hood," ii. 18.
[239] It is evident that Friar Tuck here gives John a sword.
[240] [Light, active. See Nares, edit. 1859, in v.]
[241] The origin of _amort_ is French, and sometimes it is written
_Tout-a-la-mort_, as in "The Contention between Liberality and
Prodigality," 1602, sig. B, as pointed out in a note to "Ram Alley."
[242] [Query, best hanged? He refers to the ex-sheriff.]
[243] _Defy_ is here used in the sense of _refuse_, which was not
uncommon: thus in the "Death of Robert Earl of Huntington," we have this
passage, "Or, as I said, for ever I _defy_ your company." In the "Four
'Prentices of London," act i. sc. 1, the old Earl of Boulogne says--
"Vain pleasures I abhor, all things _defy_,
That teach not to despair, or how to die."
Other instances are collected in a note to the words, "I do _defy_ thy
conjuration," from "Romeo and Juliet," act v. sc. 3.
[244] Their entrance is not marked in the original.
[245] [Old copy, _sweet_.]
[246] It will be seen from the introduction to this play, that Munday
and others, according to Henslowe, wrote a separate play under the title
of "The Funeral of Richard Cordelion." [The latter drama was not written
till some months after this and the ensuing piece, and was intended as a
sort of sequel to the plays on the history of Robin Hood.]
[247] Misprinted _Dumwod_ in the old copy.
[248] Two lines in the Epilogue might be quoted to show that only one
author was concerned in it--
"Thus is Matilda's story shown in act,
And rough-hewn out by _an_ uncunning hand."
But probably the assertion is not to be taken strictly; or if it be, it
will not prove that Chettle had no hand, earlier or later, in the
authorship. Mr Gifford in his Introduction to Ford's Works, vol. i.
xvi., remarks very truly, that we are not to suppose from the
combination of names of authors "that they were always simultaneously
employed in the production of the same play;" and Munday, who was
perhaps an elder poet than Chettle, may have himself originally written
both parts of "The Earl of Huntington," the connection of Chettle with
them being subsequent, in making alterations or adapting them to the
prevailing taste.
[249] See "The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington," _Introd_. pp. 95,
96, ante.
[250] See "Restituta," ii. 367 (note).
[251] "Bibl. Poet." 159. [But see Hazlitt's "Handbook," v. C. II.]
[252] [Henslowe's "Diary," 1845, p. 147. See also Collier's "Memoirs of
the Actors in Shakespeare's Plays," p. 111.]
[253] Introduction to "Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington," pp. 101,
102.
[254] With the letters R.A. on the title-page. [But surely it is very
doubtful whether the play printed in 1615 (and again in 1663) is the
same as that mentioned by Henslowe.]
[255] [Unless it be the drama printed in 1604 under the title of the
"Wit of a Woman."]
[256] [Possibly a revival, with alterations, of Edwardes' play.]
[257] There is no list of characters prefixed to the old 4to.
[258] i.e., Skelton, who is supposed by the author to have acted the
part of Friar Tuck, and who, when first he comes on the stage, is
without his gown and hood.
[259] [Old copy, _Hurt_. The two are inside plotting together. See
infra.]
[260] [The Queen Mother.]
[261] _Wight_ means _active_, or (sometimes) _clever_. It may be matter
of conjecture whether "_white_ boy," "_white_ poet," "_white_ villain,"
&c., so often found in old dramatists, have not this origin.
[262] It is very obvious that Much begins his answer at "Cry ye mercy,
Master King," but his name is omitted in the old 4to.
[263] The old copy adds here _Exeunt_, and a new scene is marked; but
this is a mistake, as Robin Hood just afterwards converses with the
Prior, Sir Doncaster, and Warman, without any new entrance on their
part. They retire to the back of the stage.
[264] Warman is not mentioned, but we find him on the stage just
afterwards, and he probably enters with Robin Hood. The entrance of
Friar Tuck is also omitted.
[265] i.e., Winding his horn.
[266] The 4to, reads "Pity of _mind_, thine," &c.
[267] See the last scene of the first part of this play.
[268] The 4to merely reads _exit_.
[269] "And yet more medicinal is it than that _Moly_
That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave."
--Milton's "Comus."
There are several kinds of moly, and one of them distinguished among
horticulturists as Homer's moly. Sir T. Brown thus quaintly renders two
lines in the "Odyssey" relating to it--
"The gods it _Moly_ call whose root to dig away
Is dangerous unto man, but gods they all things may."
[270] [Displeased.]
[271] [Old copy, _whindling_. See Halliwell, _v. Whimlen_. There is also
_windilling_; but the word is one of those terms of contempt used by
early writers rather loosely.]
[272] These two lines are taken, with a slight change, from the ballad
of "The Jolly Finder of Wakefield." See Ritson's "Robin Hood," ii. 16--
"In Wakefleld there lives a jolly pinder,
In Wakefield all on a green," &c.
[273] [Old copy, _monuments_.]
[274] Ritson ("Notes and Illustrations to Robin Hood," i. 62) observes
correctly that Fitzwater confounds one man with another, and that Harold
Harefoot was the son and successor of Canute the Great.
[275] [Old copy, _them_.]
[276] "_In_ a trice" is the usual expression. See a variety of instances
collected by Mr Todd in his Dictionary, but none of them have it "_with_
a trice," as in this place. The old copy prints the ordinary
abbreviation for _with_, which may have been misread by the printer.
[_With_ is no doubt wrong, and has been altered.]
[277] The scenes are marked, though incorrectly, in the old copy thus
far; but the rest of the play is only divided by the _exits_ or
entrances of the characters.
[278] Jenny, a country wench, uses the old word _straw'd_; but when the
author speaks afterwards in the stage direction, he describes Marian as
"_strewing_ flowers." Shakespeare has _o'er-strawed_ in "Venus and
Adonis," perhaps for the sake of the rhyme.
[279] [i.e., Over.]
[280] [Old copy, _of_.]
[281] Formerly considered an antidote for poison. Sir Thomas Brown was
not prepared to contradict it: he says, that "Lapis Lasuli hath in it a
purgative faculty, we know: that _Bezoar is antidotal_, Lapis Judaicus
diuretical, Coral antipileptical, we will not deny."--"Vulgar Errors,"
edit. 1658, p. 104. He also (p. 205) calls it the _Bezoar nut_, "for,
being broken, it discovereth a kernel of a leguminous smell and taste,
bitter, like a lupine, and will swell and sprout if set in the ground."
Harts-horn shavings were also considered a preservative against poison.
[282] [From what follows presently it may be inferred that the king
temporarily retires, although his exit or withdrawal is not marked.]
[283] The old word for _convent_: Covent-Garden, therefore, is still
properly called.
[284] The _grate_ of a vintner was no doubt what is often termed in old
writers the _red lattice, lettice_, or _chequers_, painted at the doors
of vintners, and still preserved at almost every public-house. See note
24 to "The Miseries of Enforced Marriage."
[285] The 4to reads--
"In the highway
That joineth to the _power_."
[286] Robin Hood advises his uncle to insist upon his plea of
_privilegium clericale_, or benefit of clergy--
"Stand to your clergy, uncle; save your life."
"Originally the law was held that no man should be admitted to the
privilege of clergy, but such as had the _habitum et tonsuram
clericalem_. But in process of time a much wider and more comprehensive
criterion was established; every one that could read (a mark of great
learning in those days of ignorance and her sister superstition) being
accounted a clerk or _clericus_, and allowed the benefit of clerkship,
though neither initiated in holy orders, nor trimmed with the clerical
tonsure."--Blackstone's "Com.," iv. b. iv, ch. 28. We have already seen
that the king and nobles in this play called in the aid of Friar Tuck to
read the inscription on the stag's collar, though the king could
ascertain that it was in Saxon characters.
[287] This account of the death of Robin Hood varies from all the
popular narratives and ballads. The MS. Sloan, 715, nu. 7, f. 157,
agrees with the ballad in Ritson, ii. 183, that he was treacherously
bled to death by the Prioress of Kirksley.
[288] The first act has already occupied too much space, but it was
difficult to divide it: in fact, as Friar Tuck says, it is a "short
play," complete in itself. What follows is an induction to the rest of
the story, the Friar continuing on the stage after the others have gone
out.
[289] The 4to. reads thus--
"Apollo's _master doone_ I invocate,"
but probably we ought to read--
"Apollo's _masterdom_ I invocate,"
and the text has been altered accordingly. _Masterdom_ means _power,
rule_; to invocate Apollo's masterdom is therefore to invocate Apollo's
power to assist the Friar in his undertaking.
[290] _Enter in black_ is the whole of the stage direction, and those
who enter are afterwards designated by the letters _Cho_. Perhaps the
principal performers arrive attired in black, and are mentioned as
_Chorus_, one speaking for the rest. _Cho_. may, however, be a misprint
for _Chester_, who was sent in to "attire him."
[291] [In the new edit. of Nares the present passage is cited for
_ill-part_, which is queried to mean _ill-conditioned_. Perhaps it is
equivalent to _malapert_.]
[292] [Old copy, _de Brun_.] "John married Isabel, the daughter and
heiress of the Earl of Angoulesme, who was before affianced to _Hugh le
Brun_, Earl of March (a peer of great estate and excellence in France),
by the consent of King Richard, in whose custody she then was."
--Daniel's "History of England."
[293] [Old copy, _lose_.]
[294] _Led by the F.K. and L_. means, as afterwards appears, the _French
king_, and _Lord_ Hugh le Brun, Earl of North March.
[295] The entrance of Bonville is omitted in the 4to.
[296] These _Lords_, as we afterwards find, are old Aubrey de Vere,
Hubert, and Mowbray.
[297] [Old copy, _troops_.]
[298] [Old copy, _triumphs_.]
[299] Lodge was in the habit of using the adjective for the substantive,
especially _fair_ for _fairness_; one example is enough--
"Some, well I wot, and of that sum full many,
Wisht or my _faire_ or their desire were lesse."
--_Scilla's Metamorphosis_, 1589.
See also note to "The Wounds of Civil War" (vol. vii. p. 118).
Shakespeare may be cited in many places besides the following--
"My decayed _fair_
A sunny look of his would soon repair."
--_Comedy of Errors_, act ii. sc. 1.
See Steevens's note on the above passage.
[300] The King calls him in the old copy _good Oxford_, but Oxford is
not present, and from what follows we see that the command was given to
Salisbury. The same mistake is again made by Hubert in this scene.
Salisbury must be pronounced _Sal'sb'ry_.
[301] [Accepted.]
[302] [Old copy, _muddy_.]
[303] [A very unusual phrase, which seems to be used here in the sense
of _masculine passions or properties_.]
[304] In the old copy it stands thus--
"Yes, but I do: I think not Isabel, Lord,
The worse for any writing of Brunes."
[In the MS. both Lord and Le were probably abbreviated into L., and
hence the misprint, as well as misplacement, in the first line.]
[305] [i.e., You may count on her wealth as yours. We now say to build
_on_, but to build _of_ was formerly not unusual.]
[306] See the notes of Dr Johnson, Steevens, and other commentators on
the words in the "Comedy of Errors," act ii. sc. 1--"Poor I am but his
_stale_." [See also Dyce's "Shakespeare Glossary," 1868, in v.]
[307] The stage directions are often given very confusedly, and (taken
by themselves) unintelligibly, in the old copy, of which this instance
may serve as a specimen: it stands thus in the 4to--"_Enter Fitzwater
and his son Bruce, and call forth his daughter_."
[308] [A feeder of the Wye. Lewis's "Book of English Rivers," 1855,
p. 212.]
[309] Alluding most likely to the "Andria" of Terence, which had been
translated [thrice] before this play was acted; the first time [in 1497,
again about 1510, and the third time] by Maurice Kiffin in 1588. [The
former two versions were anonymous. See Hazlitt's "Handbook," p. 605.]
[310] _Holidom_ or _halidom_, according to Minsheu (Dict. 1617), is "an
old word used by old country-women, by manner of swearing by my
_halidome_; of the Saxon word _haligdome, ex halig, sanctum_, and _dome,
dominium aut judicium_." Shakespeare puts it into the mouth of the host
in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona," act iv. sc. 2.
[311] The entrance of Richmond clearly takes place here, but in the 4to
he is said to come in with Leicester.
[312] [See Hazlitt's "Proverbs," p. 22.]
[313] [In the 4to and former editions this and the following nine words
are given to Richmond.]
[314] Meaning that her father Fitzwater [takes her, she having declined
to pair off with the king.] The whole account of the mask is confused in
the old copy, and it is not easy to make it much more intelligible in
the reprint.
[315] [The proverb is: "There are more maids than Malkin." See Hazlitt's
"Proverbs," p. 392.]
[316] [Old copy, _Had_.]
[317] This line will remind the reader of Shakespeare's "multitudinous
seas incarnardine," in "Macbeth," act ii. sc. 1.
[318] This answer unquestionably belongs to the king, and is not, as the
4to gives it, a part of what Leicester says. It opens with an allusion
to the crest of Leicester, similar to that noticed in the "Downfall of
Robert Earl of Huntington."
[319] [Old copy, _by God's_.]
[320] [Old copy, _armed men_.]
[321] [Old copy, _shall_.]
[322] [An allusion to the proverb.]
[323] This and other passages refer probably to the old play of "King
John," printed in 1591, [or to Shakespeare's own play which, though not
printed till 1623, must have been familiar to the public, and more
especially to dramatic authors.]
[324] In this line; in the old copy, _Salisbury_ is made to call himself
_Oxford_.
[325] The 4to reads _Enter or above Hugh, Winchester. Enter or above_
means, that they may either enter on the stage, or stand above on the
battlements, as may suit the theatre. With regard to the names _Hugh_
and _Winchester_, they are both wrong; they ought to be _Hubert_ and
_Chester_, who have been left by the king to _keep good watch_. When,
too, afterwards Chester asks--
"What, Richmond, will you prove a runaway?"--
the answer in the old copy is--
"From thee, good _Winchester_? now, the Lord defend!"
It ought to be--
"From thee, good _Chester_? now the Lord defend!"
And it is clear that the measure requires it. The names throughout are
very incorrectly given, and probably the printer composed from a copy in
which some alterations had been made in the _dramatis personae_, but
incompletely. Hence the perpetual confusion of _Salisbury_ and _Oxford_.
[326] The scene changes from the outside to the inside of the castle.
[327] [Without muscle, though muscle and bristle are strictly distinct.]
[328] To _tire_ is a term in falconry: from the Fr. _tirer_, in
reference to birds of prey tearing what they take to pieces.
[329] The 4to prints _Ilinnus_.
[330] [Old copy, _a deed_.]
[331] The 4to has it _Elinor_, but it ought to be _Isabel_. The previous
entrance of the Queen and Matilda is not marked.
[332] [_Fairness_, in which sense the word has already occurred in this
piece.]
[333] [i.e., Champion.]
[334] Matilda's name is omitted in the old copy, but the errors of this
kind are too numerous to be always pointed out.
[335] [Old copy, _Triumvirates_.]
[336] Nothing can more clearly show the desperate confusion of names in
this play than this line, which in the 4to stands--
"It's Lord _Hugh Burgh_ alone: _Hughberr_, what newes?"
In many places Hubert is only called _Hugh_.
[337] Company or collection.
[338] _Head of hungry wolves_ is the reading of the original copy: a
"_herd_" of hungry wolves would scarcely be proper, but it may have been
so written. [_Head_ may be right, and we have not altered it, as the
word is occasionally used to signify a gathering or force.]
[339] In the old copy the four following lines are given to King John.
[340] [Old copy, _warres_.]
[341] [Escutcheon.]
[342] [Abided.]
[343] [Old copy, _prepare_.]
[344] This word is found in "Henry VI., Part II." act v. sc. 1, where
young Clifford applies it to Richard. Malone observes in a note, that,
according to Bullokar's "English Expositor," 1616, _stugmatick_
originally and properly signified "a person who has been _branded_ with
a hot iron for some crime." The name of the man to whom Hubert here
applies the word, is _Brand_.
Webster, in his "Vittoria Corombona," applies the term
metaphorically:--
"The god of melancholy turn thy gall to poison,
And let the _stigmatic_ wrinkles in thy face.
Like to the boisterous wares in a rough tide,
One still overtake another."
[345] [Are faulty.]
[346] [Old copy, _seld_.]
[347] [The printer has made havoc with the sense here, which can only be
guessed at from the context. Perhaps for _go_ we should read _God_, in
allusion to the woman's protestations. Yet even then the passage reads
but lamely.]
[348] [_These_ may be right; but perhaps the author wrote _his_. By
his--i.e., God's--nails, is a very common oath.]
[349] [i.e., Mete or measure out a reward to her.]
[350] [To swear by the fingers, or the _ten commandments_, as they were
often called, was a frequent oath.]
[351] [Old copy, _lamback'd_.]
[352] The 4to says, _between the monk and the nun_.
[353] [Query, _mother Bawd_; or is some celebrated procuress of the time
when this play was written and acted meant here?]
[354] To swear by the cross of the sword was a very common practice, and
many instances are to be found in D.O.P. See also notes to "Hamlet," act
i. sc. 5.
[355] i.e., Secretly, a very common application of the word in our old
writers.
[356] [In allusion to the proverb, "Maids say nay, and take."]
[357] Here, according to what follows, Brand steps forward and addresses
Matilda. Hitherto he has spoken _aside_.
[358] See Mr Gilford's note on the words _rouse_ and _carouse_ in his
Massinger, i. 239. It would perhaps be difficult, and certainly
needless, to add anything to it.
[359] "Nor I to stir before I see the end,"
belongs to the queen, unquestionably, but the 4to gives it to the
Abbess, who has already gone out.
[360] [Labour, pain.]
[361] The reading of the old copy is--
"Oh _pity, mourning_ sight! age pitiless!"
_Pity-moving_ in a common epithet, and we find it afterwards in this
play used by young Bruce--
"My tears, my prayers, my _pity-moving_ moans."
[362] [Old copy, _wrath_.]
[363] This servant entered probably just before Oxford's question, but
his entrance is not marked.
[364] To _pash_, signifies to crush or dash to pieces. So in the "Virgin
Martyr," act ii. sc. 2--
"With Jove's artillery, shot down at once,
To _pash_ your gods in pieces."
See Mr Gifford's note upon this passage, and Reed's note on the same
word in "Troilus and Cressida," act ii. sc. 3.
[365] The 4^o has it--
"_May_ an example of it, honest friends;"
but _make_ is certainly the true reading.
[366] _Bannings_ are _cursings_. Hundreds of examples might be added to
those collected by Steevens in a note to "King Lear," act ii. sc. 3. It
is a singular coincidence that _ban_, signifying a _curse_, and _ban_, a
public notice of _marriage_, should have the same origin.
[367] The words, _at one door_, are necessary to make the stage
direction intelligible, but they are not found in the original.
[368] [Here used apparently in the unusual sense of _scene_.]
[369] This line is quoted by Steevens in a note to "Measure for
Measure," act v. sc. 1, to prove that the meaning of _refel_ is
_refute_.
[370] Sir William Blunt's entrance is not marked in the old copy.
[371] To _blin_ is to _cease_, and in this sense it is met with in
Spenser and other poets. Mr Todd informs us that it is still in use in
the north of England. Ben Jonson, in his "Sad Shepherd," converts the
verb into a substantive, "withouten _blin_."
[372] _Powder'd_ is the old word for salted: it is in this sense
Shakespeare makes Falstaff use it, when he says: "If you embowel me
to-day, I'll give you leave to _powder_ me and eat me to-morrow."
[373] i.e., _l'ouvert_ or opening--
"Ne lightned was with window nor with _lover_,
But with continuall candle-light."
--Spenser's "Faerie Queene," b. vi. c. x.