Scene II London. The Neighbourhood of Tyburn
Enter Justice, Sir Arthur, Somerton, Warbeck, Carter, and Katherine.
Just. Sir Arthur, though the bench hath mildly censured your errors, yet you have indeed been the instrument that wrought all their misfortunes; I would wish you paid down your fine speedily and willingly.
Sir Arth. I’ll need no urging to it.
Car. If you should, ’twere a shame to you; for if I should speak my conscience, you are worthier to be hanged of the two, all things considered; and now make what you can of it: but I am glad these gentlemen are freed.
War. We knew our innocence.
Som. And therefore feared it not.
Kath. But I am glad that I have you safe. [A noise within.
Just. How now! what noise is that?
Car. Young Frank is going the wrong way. Alas, poor youth! now I begin to pity him.
Enter Old Thorney and Winnifred weeping.
O. Thor. Here let our sorrows wait him; to press nearer
The place of his sad death, some apprehensions
May tempt our grief too much, at height already.
—
Daughter be comforted.
Win. Comfort and I
Are far too separated to be joined.
But in eternity: I share too much
Of him that’s going thither.
Car. Poor woman, ’twas not thy fault; I grieve to see thee weep for him that hath my pity too.
Win. My fault was lust, my punishment was shame.
Yet I am happy that my soul is free
Both from consent, foreknowledge, and intent
Of any murder but of mine own honour,
Restored again by a fair satisfaction,
And since not to be wounded.
O. Thor. Daughter, grieve not
For what necessity forceth;
Rather resolve to conquer it with patience.—
Alas, she faints!
Win. My griefs are strong upon me;
My weakness scarce can bear them.
[Within.] Away with her! hang her, witch!
Enter to execution Mother Sawyer; Officers with halberds, followed by a crowd of Country-people.
Car. The witch, that instrument of mischief! Did not she witch the devil into my son-in-law, when he killed my poor daughter? Do you hear, Mother Sawyer?
M. Saw. What would you have?
Cannot a poor old woman have your leave
To die without vexation?
Car. Did not you bewitch Frank to kill his wife? he could never have done’t without the devil.
M. Saw. Who doubts it? but is every devil mine?
Would I had one now whom I might command
To tear you all in pieces? Tom would have done’t
Before he left me.
Car. Thou didst bewitch Ann Ratcliffe to kill herself.
M. Saw. Churl, thou liest; I never did her hurt:
Would you were all as near your ends as I am,
That gave evidence against me for it!
1st Coun. I’ll be sworn, Master Carter, she bewitched Gammer Washbowl’s sow to cast her pigs a day before she would have farrowed: yet they were sent up to London and sold for as good Westminster dog-pigs at Bartholomew fair as ever great-bellied ale-wife longed for.
M. Saw. These dogs will mad me: I was well resolved
To die in my repentance. Though ’tis true
I would live longer if I might, yet since
I cannot, pray torment me not; my conscience
Is settled as it shall be: all take heed
How they believe the devil; at last he’ll cheat you.
Car. Thou’dst best confess all truly.
M. Saw. Yet again?
Have I scarce breath enough to say my prayers,
And would you force me to spend that in bawling?
Bear witness, I repent all former evil;
There is no damnèd conjuror like the devil.
All. Away with her, away! [She is led off.
Enter Frank to execution, Officers, &c.
O. Thor. Here’s the sad object which I yet must meet
With hope of comfort, if a repentant end
Make him more happy than misfortune would
Suffer him here to be.
Frank. Good sirs, turn from me:
You will revive affliction almost killed
With my continual sorrow.
O. Thor. O, Frank, Frank!
Would I had sunk in mine own wants, or died
But one bare minute ere thy fault was acted!
Frank. To look upon your sorrows executes me
Before my execution.
Win. Let me pray you, sir—
Frank. Thou much-wronged woman, I must sigh for thee,
As he that’s only loth to leave the world
For that he leaves thee in it unprovided,
Unfriended; and for me to beg a pity
From any man to thee when I am gone
Is more than I can hope; nor, to say truth,
Have I deserved it: but there is a payment
Belongs to goodness from the great exchequer
Above; it will not fail thee, Winnifred;
Be that thy comfort.
O. Thor. Let it be thine too,
Untimely-lost young man.
Frank. He is not lost
Who bears his peace within him: had I spun
My web of life out at full length, and dreamed
Away my many years in lusts, in surfeits,
Murders of reputations, gallant sins
Commended or approved; then, though I had
Died easily, as great and rich men do,
Upon my own bed, not compelled by justice,
You might have mourn’d for me indeed; my miseries
Had been as everlasting as remediless:
But now the law hath not arraigned, condemned
With greater rigour my unhappy fact
Than I myself have every little sin
My memory can reckon from my childhood:
A court hath been kept here, where I am found
Guilty; the difference is, my impartial judge
Is much more gracious than my faults
Are monstrous to be named; yet they are monstrous.
O. Thor. Here’s comfort in this penitence.
Win. It speaks
How truly you are reconciled, and quickens
My dying comfort, that was near expiring
With my last breath: now this repentance makes thee
As white as innocence; and my first sin with thee,
Since which I knew none like it, by my sorrow
Is clearly cancelled. Might our souls together
Climb to the height of their eternity,
And there enjoy what earth denied us, happiness!
But since I must survive, and be the monument
Of thy loved memory, I will preserve it
With a religious care, and pay thy ashes
A widow’s duty, calling that end best
Which, though it stain the name, makes the soul blest.
Frank. Give me thy hand, poor woman; do not weep.
Farewell: thou dost forgive me?
Win. ’Tis my part
To use that language.
Frank. O, that my example
Might teach the world hereafter what a curse
Hangs on their heads who rather choose to marry
A goodly portion than a dower of virtues!—
Are you there, gentlemen? there is not one
Amongst you whom I have not wronged; [to Carter] you most:
I robbed you of a daughter; but she is
In Heaven; and I must suffer for it willingly.
Car. Ay, ay, she’s in Heaven, and I am so glad to see thee so well prepared to follow her. I forgive thee with all my heart; if thou hadst not had ill counsel, thou wouldst not have done as thou didst; the more shame for them.
Som. Spare your excuse to me, I do conceive
What you would speak; I would you could as easily
Make satisfaction to the law as to my wrongs.
I am sorry for you.
War. And so am I,
And heartily forgive you.
Kath. I will pray for you
For her sake, who I’m sure did love you dearly.
Sir Arth. Let us part friendly too; I am ashamed
Of my part in thy wrongs.
Frank. You are all merciful,
And send me to my grave in peace. Sir Arthur,
Heaven send you a new heart!—Lastly, to you, sir;
And though I have deserved not to be called
Your son, yet give me leave upon my knees
To beg a blessing. [Kneels.
O. Thor. Take it; let me wet
Thy cheeks with the last tears my griefs have left me.
O, Frank, Frank, Frank!
Frank. Let me beseech you, gentlemen,
To comfort my old father, keep him with ye;
Love this distressèd widow; and as often
As you remember what a graceless man
I was, remember likewise that these are
Both free, both worthy of a better fate
Than such a son or husband as I have been.
All help me with your prayers.—On, on; ’tis just
That law should purge the guilt of blood and lust. [Exit, led off by the Officers.
Car. Go thy ways; I did not think to have shed one tear for thee, but thou hast made me water my plants spite of my heart.—Master Thorney, cheer up, man; whilst I can stand by you, you shall not want help to keep you from falling: we have lost our children, both on’s, the wrong way, but we cannot help it; better or worse, ’tis now as ’tis.
O. Thor. I thank you, sir; you are more kind than I
Have cause to hope or look for.
Car. Master Somerton, is Kate yours or no?
Som. We are agreed.
Kath. And but my faith is passed, I should fear to be married, husbands are so cruelly unkind. Excuse me that I am thus troubled.
Som. Thou shalt have no cause.
Just. Take comfort, Mistress Winnifred: Sir Arthur,
For his abuse to you and to your husband,
Is by the bench enjoined to pay you down
A thousand marks.462
Sir Arth. Which I will soon discharge.
Win. Sir, ’tis too great a sum to be employed
Upon my funeral.
Car. Come, come; if luck had served, Sir Arthur, and every man had his due, somebody might have tottered ere this, without paying fines, like it as you list.—Come to me, Winnifred; shalt be welcome.—Make much of her, Kate, I charge you: I do not think but she’s a good wench, and hath had wrong as well as we. So let’s every man home to Edmonton with heavy hearts, yet as merry as we can, though not as we would.
Just. Join, friends, in sorrow; make of all the best:
Harms past may be lamented, not redrest. [Exeunt.
Spoken by Winnifred.
I am a widow still, and must not sort
A second choice without a good report;
Which though some widows find, and few deserve,
Yet I dare not presume, but will not swerve
From modest hopes. All noble tongues are free;
The gentle may speak one kind word for me.
Phen.
Footnotes
1 “Memoirs of Actors,” xvi., xvii.
2 “The Academy,” vol. v., 1874, pp. 136-7.
3 Shoemaking was called “the Gentle Craft,” possibly in part because the patron saints of shoemakers, St. Crispin and St. Hugh, were said to be of noble, and even royal, blood; possibly because of the sedentary nature of the occupation.
4 A diminutive of Roger.
5 Wasted, squandered.
6 Regimental badge or device.
7 Weapons and martial equipment.
8 A gold coin, worth about three pounds twelve shillings.
9 The quarto has “with a piece.” Piece (old Fr. bobelin) was sometimes loosely used for the shoe itself, as well as for the piece of leather used in repairs. See Cotgrave.
10 Twiddle-twaddle.
11 Apparently one of Eyre’s frequent improvised phrases, referring here to his wife’s trick of repeating herself, as in her previous speech.
12 An imaginary Saracen god, represented in the old moralities and plays as of a quite ungodly tendency to violence.
13 A nick-name, possibly, for some character of the day, used with a vague reference to King Lud.
14 Tales told to curry favour.
15 The groat was the silver fourpenny-piece. The simile of a cracked coin is an obvious expression of worthlessness.
16 Little yellow spots on the body which denoted the infection of the plague.
17 Another of Eyre’s improvised phrases, whose component parts sufficiently explain its meaning.
18 With a vengeance.
19 Crushed crab apples.
20 A kind of trousers, first worn by the Gascons.
21 A phrase from Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy.
22 i.e. Go and be hanged!
23 i.e. Dressing himself.
24 Bread soaked in pot liquor, and prepared secundum artem.—Nares.
25 Salted beef.
26 A dog kept fastened up as a watch-dog, and therefore given to loud barking.
27 A woman who washed and pickled pigs’ faces.
28 Bawling.
29 There was a boor from Gelderland,
Jolly they be;
He was so drunk he could not stand,
Drunken they be:
Clink then the cannikin,
Drink, pretty mannikin!
30 St. Hugh was the patron saint of shoemakers, and his bones were supposed to have been made into shoemaker’s tools, for which this came to be a common term.
31 A dish of different hashed meats.
32 Good day, master, and your wife too.
33 Yes, yes, I am a shoemaker.
34 Yes, yes; be not afraid. I have everything, to make boots big and little.
35 I don’t know what you say; I don’t understand you.
36 Yes, yes, yes; I can do that very well.
37 Slatterns, sluts.
38 O, I understand you; I must pay for half-a-dozen cans; here, boy, take this shilling, tap this once freely.
39 Cant term for a beggar.
40 Conger-eel.
41 Take cover.
42 Spent; panting with exhaustion.
43 Stupid.
44 I’ll tell you what, Hans; this ship that is come from Candia, is quite full, by God’s sacrament, of sugar, civet, almonds, cambric, and all things; a thousand, thousand things. Take it, Hans, take it for your master. There are the bills of lading. Your master, Simon Eyre, shall have a good bargain. What say you, Hans?
45 My dear brother Firk, bring Master Eyre to the sign of the Swan; there shall you find this skipper and me. What say you, brother Firk? Do it, Hodge.—[There were at this time two inns with the sign of the Swan in London, one at Dowgate, the other in Old Fish Street.]
46 A coin worth about three pounds twelve shillings.
47 “East from the Bishop of Winchester’s house, directly over against it, stands a fair church, called St. Mary over the Rie, or Overie, that is, over the water.”—Stow’s Survey of London.
48 Finsbury was a famous practising ground for archery at this time.
49 A name given to Dutchwomen.
50 By the way, beside the question.
51 German: Schelm, a scoundrel. Skanderbag, or Scander Beg (i.e. Lord Alexander), a Turkish name for John Kastriota, the Albanian hero, who freed his country from the yoke of the Turks (1443-1467).
52 A robe ornamented with guards or facings.
53 Stamped.
54 Raising up, ruffling.
55 Good day, master. This is the skipper that has the ship of merchandise; the commodity is good; take it, master, take it.
56 The ship lies in the river; there are sugar, civet, almonds, cambric, and a thousand thousand things, by God’s sacrament, take it, master; you shall have a good bargain.
57 Yes, yes, I have drunk well.
58 Fr. Par Dieu. The word here means “truly.”
59 Found, set; a play upon fond.
60 Puppet: derived from Mahomet.
61 Coins worth about 10s. each.
62 Ale-kegs, made of wood; hence the need for scalding.
63 I thank you, mistress!
64 Yes, I shall, mistress!
65 High-heeled cork shoes were in fashion for ladies at this time.
66 Truly; see ante, p. 33.
67 A comparison suggested by the likeness of the flaps of the hood to the boards of a pillory, between which the head of the prisoner was fastened.
68 The old name for Gracechurch Street before the fire of London.
69 I am merry; let’s see you so too!
70 Serve me, and I’ll serve thee.
71 Yes, I shall, dame!
72 Brighten up.
73 Sheriff.
74 “The three-farthing silver pieces of Queen Elizabeth had the profile of the sovereign with a rose at the back of her head.”—Dyce (Note to King John.)
75 The flap of a hood trimmed with fur or sheep’s wool.
76 i.e. For the twenty Portuguese previously lent.
77 Herrick, who was a goldsmith’s apprentice in London during the time when this play was performed, seems to have appropriated these words of Eyre’s, and turned them into rhyme in these lines:—
“Let’s now take our time,
While we’re in our prime,
And old, old age is afar off;
For the evil, evil days,
Will come on apace,
Before we can be aware of.”
78 A song or catch for three voices. In the original, the two Three-Men’s Songs are printed separately from the rest of the play, and the place for their insertion is only very uncertainly indicated.
79 I thank you, good maid!
80 See note ante, p. 39.
81 “Forward, Firk, thou art a jolly youngster. Hark, ay, master, I bid you cut me a pair of vamps for Master Jeffrey’s boots.” Vamps; upper leathers of a shoe.
82 A play upon “vamps,” which sometimes has this meaning.
83 What do you want (was begehrt ihr), what would you, girl?
84 Where is your noble lady, where is your mistress?
85 Yes, yes, I shall go with you.
86 “At the west end of this Jesus chapel, under the choir of Paul’s, also was a parish church of St. Faith, commonly called St. Faith under Paul’s.”—Stow.
87 A corruption of “God’s nails.”
88 Indeed, mistress, ’tis a good shoe, it shall fit well, or you shall not pay.
89 Yes, yes, I know that well; indeed, ’tis a good shoe, ’tis made of neat’s leather, see here, good sir!
90 Honeykin (?); poor honey, poor creature.
91 “Rest you merry.”—Shak., Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Sc. 2.
92 i.e. Diggers for information.
93 i.e. Stretchers of the truth, fibs.
94 A stone in St. Swithin’s (now cased in the wall of the church), which marked the centre from which the old Roman-roads radiated.
95 A small conduit near the Royal Exchange.
96 A pretty sight. See p, 74, l. 1. Compare Shakespeare’s “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” Act III., Sc. 1, 136, and Act IV., Sc. 1, 144.
97 Terms used in a common children’s game, the point being to discover in which of the two hands some small object was hidden.
98 A sweet biscuit, similar to a macaroon.—Nares.
99 Fitted.
100 In any public affray, the cry was “Clubs, Clubs!” by way of calling for help (particularly by the London ’prentices).—Nares.
101 A piece of lace with a tag, which fastened the busk, or piece of whalebone, used to keep the stays in position.
102 Whipped.
103 Leadenhall. [See note post, p. 85.]
104 See note ante, p. 19.
105 Barrels.
106 In suspense.
107 i.e. Swaggerer.
108 See note to First Three Men’s Song, p. 46.
109 Pass, push about from one to the other, in drinking.
110 “A dish, made of milk, eggs and sugar, baked in a pot.”—Webster.
111 A steak cut crossways for broiling.
112 Bands or collars for the neck.
113 Flaps; as resembling the hanging chaps of a hound.
114 The allusion is, no doubt, to Kyd’s Soliman and Perseda, and to Marlowe’s Tamburlaine, though these were long after Eyre’s time.
115 Magpie.
116 Tamerlane (Tamburlaine), Cham, or Khan of Tartary. Compare Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing, Act II. Sc. i.
117 “A.D. 1419. This year Sir Symon Eyre built Leadenhall, at his proper expense, as it now appears, and gave the same to the City to be employed as a public granary for laying up corn against a time of scarcity.”—Maitland, ii., p. 187.
118 Merry-making.
119 Portentous.
120 A red Spanish wine, made at Alicant.
121 By our lady.
122 Ballad-makers.
123 i.e. Readily. Compare Gull’s Horn Book, Notts Ed. p. 160.
124 Grandee.
125 A contemptuous term for an old man of means.
126 The superstitions about this plant, its fancied resemblance to the human figure, led to its being frequently alluded to in this way.
127 Query Whimlings—idiots.
128 Wide of the mark.
129 Scurfy.
130 Bosom friend.
131 “Aunt” was a cant term both for a prostitute and a bawd.—Dyce.
132 Cheat.
133 i.e. An idiot. The phrase had its origin in the practice of the crown granting the custody of idiots and their possessions to persons who had interest enough to secure the appointments.
134 Foolish.
135 i.e. For love’s sake.
136 Bet.
137 Hands.
138 The shopkeeper’s common cry at this period.
139 An exclamation of contempt, equivalent to “a fig for.”—Dyce.
140 Proverbial term for a simpleton.
141 Milksop.
142 Beat.
143 Thieves’ slang for a man who shams madness to gain his ends. Compare Dekker’s Bellman of London, Grosart, sc. III., p. 101.
144 i.e. Not fully dressed.
145 A stick used for plaiting ruffs.
146 Sideboard.
147 See note, ante, p. 115.
148 A common ejaculation of contempt.
149 A corruption of “God’s my pity.”—Dyce.
150 A gold coin worth about ten shillings. The play upon the word was one of the commonest puns of the time.
151 A docked horse.
152 Spiced and sweetened wine.
153 Half a gallon.
154 A roll of fine bread.
155 A sprightly dance.
156 Prostitutes.
157 Rabbit-skin.
158 i.e. Retires to the background.
159 Cheat.
160 Hysterics.
161 Paltry.
162 Respectfully.
163 i.e. For sale.
164 See note, ante, p. 118.
165 The term sirrah was applied often to women as well as to men.
166 Prostitute.
167 A sweet Spanish wine.
168 Simpletons.
169 Measure.
170 Wench.
171 Calves’ Fry.
172 Tripe.
173 A corruption of the word “melancholy.”
174 In allusion to the painting of a citizen’s gateposts on his promotion to be sheriff, so as to display official notices the better.
175 A slang term applied to citizens in allusion to their head gear.
176 Beat.
177 Pleases.
178 A contraction of “mine ingle,” i.e. my favourite or friend.
179 The heraldic term for red.
180 Desire.
181 Weigh.
182 Perquisites.
183 Table covers.
184 Portuguese coins, worth about 2s. 10d. each, but varying in value.
185 Construe.
186 i.e. Bourgeois knights dubbed for civil, not for martial, honours.
187 i.e. I long.
188 When he may rob under protection. Barn is a corruption of baron, and in law a wife is said to be under covert baron, being sheltered by marriage under her husband.—Dyce.
189 Hat.
190 Handsomest.
191 See note ante, p. 114.
192 Simpletons.
193 Easily, readily.
194 The siege of Ostend was protracted for three years and ten weeks.—The place was eventually captured by the Marquis of Spinola on Sep. 8, 1604.
195 Foolish.
196 i.e. A person,—thus spelt to mark the servant’s mispronunciation.
197 From Seneca’s Oedipus.
198 Ital. Good courage.
199 “Slid” according to Halliwell is a north country oath.
200 A corruption of “mazzard,” the head.
201 i.e. In bowing.
202 An allusion, no doubt, to Shakespeare’s comedy.
203 Dyce points out the inconsistency, that Candido has just returned from the Senate House, although it appears from the intermediate Scenes that since he left home a night has elapsed.
204 A quibble. A master’s was one of the three degrees in fencing, for each of which a “prize” was publicly played.
205 Construe.
206 A cheap substitute for tapestry and very frequently having verses inscribed on it as in the present instance.
207 Readily. Possibly the above use of the term points to its derivation.
208 Cheese-trenchers used to be inscribed with proverbial phrases.
209 Consent.
210 i.e. To steal a wench.
211 It was the ancient practice when persons were sworn for them to eat bread and salt.
212 Artifices.
213 Anticipate.
214 i.e. They are not to be restrained by being called to.
215 Hats.
216 Club foot.
217 Informer.
218 Slippers. Fr. pantoufles.
219 In playing the virginal the sound ceased whenever the jack fell and touched the string.
220 A flap-dragon was a raisin floating on lighted spirit in a dish or glass and had to be snatched out with the mouth and swallowed. Gallants used to toast their mistresses in flap-dragons.
221 “An almond for parrot,” and “a rope for parrot,” were common phrases at the time.
222 A corruption of God’s sanctity or God’s saints.—Steevens.
223 In the game of barley-break the ground was divided into three compartments, the middle one of which was called “hell.”
224 i.e. Infelice.
225 A quibble. “Table” also meant the palm of the hand.—Dyce.
226 i.e. A wench, a prostitute.
227 An allusion to a ballad of that name.
228 i.e. Confound.
229 Hands.
230 i.e. Reason.
231 Favourite.
232 The running footmen of those days were generally Irishmen.
233 Meaning Dunkirk privateers.
234 Buona roba is an Italian phrase for a courtesan.
235 Yellow was typical of jealousy.
236 A supposed recipe for restoring youth.—Dyce.
237 Preserve.
238 Renounce.
239 Made use of by fowlers to allure quails.
240 The common livery of the time.
241 In allusion to the caps worn both by traders and their apprentices.
242 Bucklers formerly had long spikes in their centre.
243 The model for the hat.
244 Struts.
245 A tall pointed hat satirized by Stubbes in his Anatomie of Abuses (1538). Probably at this point Candido takes the steeple-like hat worn by the 1st Guest, and puts it on his own head.
246 Hysteria.
247 Rosemary was used as an emblem of remembrance at both funerals and weddings.
248 A favourite simile with the writers of the time.
249 Ital. A term of abuse or contempt.
250 Roystering young gallants. A highly favourable female version of the type is given in Dekker and Middleton’s comedy, The Roaring Girl.
251 i.e. Get a chance of drinking to excess.
252 See note ante, p. 99.
253 Foolish.
254 Cheat.
255 Whoremonger.
256 Portcullis.
257 An expression signifying impatience.
258 A fencing contest. See note ante, p. 160.
259 Cudgels.
260 A hound,—derived from “Shake a Tory.”
261 Críosd—Christ.
262 Irish: Slán lúitheach—A joyous farewell(?).
263 Irish: As a márach frómhadh bodach bréan—On the morrow of a feast, a clown is a beast.
264 A rough sturdy fellow. Irish: Ceithearneach—A soldier.
265 An allusion to the darts carried by the Irish running footmen.—Dyce.
266 Irish: Maighisdir mo grádh—Master of my love.
267 Foolish.
268 i.e. With a staff.
269 An allusion to the well-known romance of this name, from the Spanish.
270 A cant term for money.
271 i.e. Turn bawd.
272 Prostitutes.
273 See note ante, p. 124.
274 Gardens with summer-houses were very common in the suburbs of London at the time, and were often used as places of intrigue.—Dyce.
275 Sift.
276 Pear-tree.
277 Finely attired.
278 A Cataian came to signify a sharper because the people of Cataia (China) were famous for their thieving propensities.—Dyce.
279 Serving-men’s livery at this time was usually blue.
280 A kind of false dice.
281 Whoremonger.
282 The loops or straps appended to the girdle in which the dagger or small sword usually hung.—Halliwell.
283 Means both a herring and a piece of money.
284 Horses with long housings.
285 Stuffed out.
286 The clap or clack-dish was properly a box carried by beggars, the lid of which they used to rattle to attract notice and bring people to their doors.
287 Hospital.
288 Booty.
289 Meaning his sword.
290 Steevens pointed out that Arlotte was not the concubine of an English king but was the mistress of the father of William the Conqueror.
291 i.e. Then.
292 A net, the mouth of which was drawn together with a string.
293 To drink tobacco was a common phrase for smoking it.—Reed.
294 A long barge with oars.
295 A common dish in the brothels of the time.
296 A corruption of Pedro Ximenes, a sweet Spanish wine, so called from the grape of that name.
297 A sweet Portuguese wine from the neighbourhood of Lisbon.
298 i.e. Aleatico, a red Italian muscatel wine with a rich aromatic flavour.
299 The saker and basilisk were both pieces of ordnance.
300 A play upon “pop-guns.”
301 It was a common custom to kneel when drinking a health, especially the health of a superior.
302 The price was here probably indicated by displaying the fingers.
303 On Shrove Tuesday the authorities made a search for brothel-keepers, and on the same day the London apprentices went about wrecking houses of ill-fame.
304 It was in a blue gown that strumpets had to do penance.
305 Meaning Bridewell, where loose women were whipped.
306 An allusion to the carting of prostitutes, who were at the same time pelted by the populace with rotten eggs.
307 Breaking chalk, grinding in mills, raising sand and gravel and making of lime were among the employments assigned to vagrants and others committed to Bridewell.—Reed.
308 This and the subsequent allusions to the Bridewell of Milan, of course, really have reference to the London Bridewell. In the reign of Henry VIII. princes were lodged there, and it was there that Cardinal Campeius had his first audience of the king. After Henry’s death, Edward VI. gave the palace to the citizens. It was moreover endowed with land belonging to the Savoy to the amount of 700 marks a year and the bedding and furniture of this hospital were bestowed upon it.
309 i.e. Skeletons.
310 Atoms.
311 Slang term for a small copper coin.
312 The amount of the hangman’s fee.
313 A cittern or lute was part of the appointments of a barber’s shop of the period.
314 A term in fencing. See note ante, p. 160.
315 A heavy mallet.
316 The term was applied both to a kept gallant and to a pander.
317 Smartly attired.
318 A term of contempt.
319 A play upon the word, which also signifies “trimmed.”
320 Prostitutes.
321 Task work.
322 At the carting of bawds and prostitutes they were preceded by a mob beating basins and performing other rough music.
323 Trimmed.
324 Ensign.
325 Branded.
326 Disdain.
327 Finely dressed.
328 Fools.
329 This Prologue and the Epilogue are specially devised for the performance of the play before the queen, hence “At Court.”
330 i.e. Queen Elizabeth, at this time in her sixty-eighth year.
Pandora is the only one of these poetic terms for Elizabeth peculiar to Dekker. The rest of them are used by others of the Elizabethan poets. He evidently here conceives Pandora on the side of her good fortune only, as receiving the gifts of the gods, and not in her more familiar association with the story of Pandora’s Box and its evils.
331 Probably a church in Famagosta, which tradition makes Fortunatus’s native place, and which was at one time the chief port and fortress in Cyprus.
332 “A gardener” in the original, which does not tally with the description given by Fortune on p. 300. q.v.
333 “A smith” in the original, which is again a confusion with the description in the text.
334 An allusion to the coxcomb, the invariable ornament to the fool’s cap, which Virtue wears on her head. See description, Scene III.
335 The description corresponds rather to Henry IV. of Germany, who died in 1106.
336 Frederick I. called Barbarossa, Emperor of Germany, i.e. Allemagne (Almaine), the grandson of Henry IV.
337 Alexander III.
338 Louis I. called Le Débonnaire, son of Charlemagne, d. 840.
339 Bajazet I. called Yilderim, i.e. Lightning, because of the rapidity of his movement in the field of war, first Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, who was humiliated by Timur (Tamburlaine). Compare Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great.
340 Viriathus, a shepherd who became a famous Lusitanian chief in the 2nd century B.C., and long warred successfully against the Romans in Spain.
341 Primislaus, a country labourer, who became first Duke of Bohemia, having married the daughter of Croc who founded the city of Prague.
342 Gregory VII. (1013-1085).
343 Fortune here turns and addresses the four deposed kings again.
344 Tailor. See The Devil’s Answer to Pierce Pennylesse (Dekker’s non-dramatic works, The Huth Library, edited by the Rev. A. B. Grosart, vol. ii. p. 147), “That botcher I preferred to be Lucifer’s tailor, because he works with a hot needle and burnt thread.”
345 John of Leyden (John Beccold), b. 1510, d. 1536, a tailor, who became a leader of the Anabaptists and at their head took extraordinary possession of the city of Munster, and ruled for a brief space as king there, before constitutional authority was restored and he was seized and put to death.
346 The Three Destinies, to whom Fortune herself was sometimes added as a fourth. Fortunatus here seems to be addressing Fortune and her two attendant nymphs, for no stage direction is specially given for the entrance of the Three Destinies, as in Act II. sc. ii., q.v.
347 See an anonymous poem in Tottel’s Miscellany, 1557, called “A praise of his Lady,” from which Dekker may have borrowed the fancy:—
“In each of her two crystal eyes
Smileth a naked boy.”
348 Dekker is not careful even to remember here that Cyprus is an island.
349 Compare Shakespeare’s “Crabbed Age and Youth.”
350 A corruption of “God’s heart.”
351 Hired witnesses.
352 One of the usual puns on the coin of that name.
353 Ensign-bearers.
354 A net the ends of which are drawn together with a string like a purse.
355 Kid leather (Fr. chevreau). Hence a very flexible conscience was often called a cheveril conscience.—Halliwell.
356 Mean or miserly persons.—Halliwell.
357 See note ante, p. 306.
358 i.e. Gallantly attired.
359 Housings hung on horses and mules, and considered a mark of dignity.—Halliwell.
360 A stick with leather flap for killing flies.
361 One of the followers of Ogier the Dane into India, according to Mandeville, who was given sovereignty there, and is said by tradition to have had seventy tributary kings.
362 i.e. Khan.
363 Another reference to the gold coins so called.
364 i.e. The fool’s cap.
365 In the original story Fortunatus goes to Cairo, and Dekker is evidently here confusing Egypt with Assyria. Hence the Soldan’s court at Babylon.
366 The golden apple which Paris adjudged to Venus.
367 Alluding to Phaeton’s flight, and the fiery disruption of his chariot.
368 A martial term, probably of Spanish derivation, for the summons to battle.
369 “No does?” simply in the original, which is not intelligible. In full it would seem to imply “No, does it not?”
370 Poise, weigh. “Peise” is still in use in some parts of the north of England.
371 i.e. Gallantly attired.
372 In the original these words ate assigned to Ampedo, an evident error.
373 A Portuguese coin having a cross on one side and worth about 2s. 3d., but varying in value at different times.
374 “Pies” in the original, an evident misprint.
375 A common reproach for the affectation of the courtiers in Elizabeth’s reign.
376 See note ante. p. 301. “The Parcae were generally represented as three old women with chaplets made with wool, and interwoven with the flowers of the narcissus. They were covered with a white robe, and fillet of the same colour, bound with chaplets. One of them held a distaff, another the spindle, and the third was armed with scissors with which she cut the thread which her sisters had spun.”—Lempriere.
377 Sempstresses, alluding to their spinning.
378 See The Devil’s Answer to Pierce Pennylesse, p. 100, “that great Dego of Devils.”—Dekker’s Non-Dramatic Works.
379 Death, in original,—an evident misprint.
380 Swaggering mood.
381 Ital. Latta, tin-plate.
[382] Succeed.
383 Farcy, a disease to which horses are subject, still sometimes miscalled “Fashions” by country farriers. Dekker puns on it again in The Gull’s Horn-Book:—“Fashions then was counted a disease, and horses died of it: But now (thanks to folly) it is held the only rare physic, and the purest golden Asses live upon it.”
384 Bow.
385 Prostitutes.
386 Barded, or barbed: i.e. Adorned with trappings.
387 The mark was worth 13s. 4d.
388 The angel varied from 6s. 8d. to 10s. in value.
389 Skill.
390 “My heart is weighed down, my soul much tormented. No, by Heaven, the Spanish foot does not beat to music on English ground.”
391 “The truth, sir; the Spanish dance is full of state, majestic, and fit for monarchs: your English low, fantastic, and very humble.”
392 “I desire only to please you: your eye has conquered its prisoner. You shall hear the Spanish Pavan, let your music be grave and majestic: Page, give me tobacco; take my cloak and my sword. Higher, higher: Make way, make way friends, higher, higher.” The Pavan was a stately Spanish dance.
393 History does not record that Athelstane had either wife or daughter.
394 Your old mind (or, more literally, inclination) of cajoling.
395 Virtue. Greek.
396 In the English translation from the original story of Fortunatus, as published in the Dutch, Andelocia invents the name of Damascus, or Damasco, for his apples, on the spur of the moment, so as to give them an air of rarety, the name apparently not being one previously used for any special kind of apple. In an earlier English edition of the story, published about 1650, however, they are otherwise described. It says there:—“They were brought from Jerusalem, and were from the Holy Garden.”
397 A large sweet apple, full of juice [see Bailey’s Dictionary].
398 John apple, a good keeping apple, which long retains its freshness.
399 “That is too many, master.” Dekker’s Irish even surpasses his Dutch in unintelligibility, and it would need more space than mere footnotes can afford, to attempt any full elucidation.
400 Stockings probably, from the use of the term for bales of wool.
401 Dekker uses “Gallant,” as an equivalent in The Gull’s Horn-Book, but he means something more opprobrious;—“Masher,” as we would say to-day, a fool of fashion.
402 An allusion to the comedy The Wisdom of Dr. Dodipoll.
403 i.e. Grow jolly, at the spectacle.
404 A play upon “fool” and “foul.”
405 Elucidation of his jargon must be left to the discretion of the reader.
406 See ante, “They mean to fall to their hey-pass and re-pass.”
407 A reference probably to a woman exhibited at some show in London, and transferred by Dekker, with his usual artistic liberty, to Cyprus.
408 This is an imaginative prevision on the part of Ampedo, as again in his next speech, “My want is famine.”
409 Virtue here evidently addressed Queen Elizabeth, as she sat in the audience; this direct recognition is kept up to the end of the play.
411 An allusion to the popular old play of The Merry Devil of Edmonton, written about twenty years previously.
412 i.e. Acquit.
413 This speech is very corrupt. Dyce suggested “lewdness” in place of the “laundress” of the old edition.
414 Assure.
415 Skeleton.
416 Persuaded.
417 A stalking-horse, cover.
418 Make over.
419 i.e. Blunt and honest. An old proverb.
420 Another term for “bewitch” commonly in use; the word probably implied the muttering or “forspeaking” of a spell.
421 A winding thoroughfare which led from Eastcheap to Fish-street-hill.
422 “An inner part between the tenor and the base.” Blount’s Glossographia, 1681. It was customary in the morris to adorn the dresses of the dancers, the trappings of the hobby-horse, &c., with bells of different pitch, but arranged to sound in harmony. Hence, “treble,” “mean,” &c.
423 Counter-tenor.
424 Coursing the hare.
425 The fore-man or fore-gallant of the morris led the other dancers, and was distinguished by a gayer dress.
426 Cuddy’s anger arises from the unlucky question asked by the third clown; “How shall we do for a good hobby-horse?”—as he apparently expected, from his former celebrity in that respectable character, to have been appointed by acclamation.—Gifford.
427 “Ka me, ka thee!” was an old proverb.
428 Bird-bolt, arrow; perhaps more correctly “But-bolt,” as emendated by Gifford.
429 Peas codlings; green peas.
430 There is a break here in the quarto. It is suggested that the printer was unable to decipher the first word of the line in the manuscript.
431 A children’s game, in which cherry-stones are pitched into a small hole. The suggestion was sometimes a less innocent one, however. Compare Herrick’s quatrain on “Cherry-pit.”
432 Thus Butler:
“The soldier does it every day,
Eight to the week, for sixpence pay.”
—Gifford.
433 Coach, Fr. Carrosse.
434 Barking Church stood at the bottom of Seething Lane. It was destroyed in the great fire.—Gifford.
435 Crony, friend.
436 Abbreviation for “Mine ingle,” as above.
437 Or “neif,” i.e. fist.
438 The allusion is to Master Peter Fabel, who, as the prologue to the old comedy says, “was called, for his sleights and his magic, “The merry Devil of Edmonton.”—Gifford.
439 Frank alludes to the marriage portion which he had just received with Susan.—Gifford.
440 Cockchafer, beetle.
441 The dog is of course supposed invisible. Frank thanks Susan for telling him of the threatened arrival of Carter and Old Thorney which would lead to discovery.
442 An allusion to an old superstition in which the idea was that wounds were healed by the turning of the assailant’s weapon against himself so as to cover it with his blood.
443 i.e. Adorned with tufts, or tassels, dependent from the shoulders.—Gifford.
444 Array.
445 Maid Marian was always a prominent figure in the morris-dance. Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, and other characters were also added according to the humour of the dancers.
446 An outbuilding or yard in the rear of a house.
447 Penny. Lat. Denarius.
448 Paned hose were made of stripes (panels) of different-coloured stuff stitched together, and therefore liable to break or be seam-rent. Thus counterpane.
449 Farmer Banks is very familiar with the names of old plays (or rather of the supposed witches who gave names to the plays). Mother Bombie is the title of one of Lyly’s comedies, of which she is the heroine; as is Gammer Gurton of the farcical drama, Gammer Gurton’s Needle, to which Old Banks presently refers.
450 A breed of dogs, in great request for hunting ducks in the ponds at Islington and other outlying regions of London at this period.
451 A fierce kind of mastiff kept to bait bears. Paris garden, where these brutal sports were regularly exhibited, was situated on the Bankside in Southwark, close to the Globe Theatre.—Gifford.
452 There is a tract, in prose and verse, attributed to Luke Hatton, entitled The Black Dog of Newgate; and we learn from Henslowe’s Diary that there was a play by Hathway, Day, Smith, and another poet, with the same title.—Dyce.
453 i.e. Wandering.
454 A proverbial expression for more concealed mischief.—Gifford.
455 Literally, a bull-calf, sometimes used, as here, as an expression of kindness; but generally indicative of familiarity and contempt.—Gifford.
456 i.e. Destroy.
457 A notorious character of those days, whose real name was Mary Frith. She appears to have excelled in various professions, of which far the most honest and praiseworthy was that of picking pockets. By singular good fortune she escaped the gallows, and died, “in a ripe and rotten old age,” some time before the Restoration. Moll is the heroine of The Roaring Girl, a lively comedy by Middleton and Dekker, who have treated her with kindness.—Gifford.
458 Creep in.
459 Patronage, protection, responsibility.—Gifford.
460 Footcloths were the ornamental housings or trappings flung over the pads of state-horses. On these the great lawyers then rode to Westminster Hall, and, as our authors intimate, the great courtiers to St. James’s. They became common enough in aftertimes.—Gifford. Briareus, the hundred-handed giant. The allusion is obvious.
461 Compare “Revelation.” ch. xii.
462 The mark was worth 13s. 4d.