The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 2, by A.H. Bullen, (Ed.)

[141] We are to suppose that Barabas' body had been thrown "o'er the walls," according to the Governor's order. The scene is now changed from the Senate-house to the outside of the city.

[142] A herb of powerful soporific qualities. Shakespeare couples it with "poppy" in Othello:—

"Not poppy nor mandragora, Nor all the powerful syrups of the world, Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep Which thou ow'dst yesterday."

[143] Old ed. "truce." The correction is Collier's. Dyce reads "trench."

[144] Scene: a square in the city.

[146] Old ed. "to kept."

[147] The scene shifts to the Governor's house.

[148] I.e. "intend'st."

[149] Large cannons.

[150] See vol. 1, p. 67, note 2.

[151]Old ed.—

"And toward Calabria back'd by Sicily, Two lofty Turrets that command the Towne. When Siracusian Dionisius reign'd; I wonder how it could be conquer'd thus."

The correction was made by the editor of 1826.

[152] Scene: a street.

[153] The stick that held the gunner's match.

[154] Scene: the hall of the Governor's house. Barabas is in the gallery.

[155] Old ed. "Serv."

[156] Old ed. "summe."

[157] Dyce reads "ascend."

[158] The stage-direction in old ed. is "A charge, the cable cut. A caldron discovered." In Scene 4 the Governor had directed the Knights and Del Bosco to issue out at the discharge of the culverin.

[159] Cunningham's correction for the old eds. "fate."

[161] Old ed. "meditate."

[162] Old ed. "call."

[163] Scene: a street in London.

[164] So 4tos.—Dyce gives "lie;" but "die" may perhaps be interpreted as "swoon."

[165] Cf. Day's Parliament of Bees:—

"Yet if you meet a tart antagonist, Or discontented rugged satirist, That slights your errant or his art that penned it, Cry Tanti!"

So in the Prologue to Day's Isle of Gulls:—

"Detraction he scorns, honours the best: Tanti for hate, thus low for all the rest."

[166] So Dyce.—4tos. "fanne."

[167] Mr. Tancock quotes from Pliny's Natural History:—"Hystrici longiores aculei et cum intendit cutem missiles. Ora urgentium figit canum et paulo longius jaculatur."

[168] So the 4tos.—Dyce reads "sylvan."

[169] The name of a rustic dance.

[170] So the 4tos.—Dyce reads "shall."

[171] The 4tos. read, "My lord, here comes the king and the nobles." Dyce gives, "Here comes my lord the king and the nobles." Mr. Fleay arranges the passage thus:—

"Here comes my lord The king and th' nobles from the parliament. I'll stand aside."

[172] Equivalent to a dissyllable.

[173] Cf. 3 Henry VI. v. 6, "aspiring blood of Lancaster."

[174] I have kept the form found in ed. 1598, as a trisyllable is here required.

[175] Dyce's correction "leave" seems unnecessary. Warwick is speaking ironically.

[176] Dyce altered "Gaveston" to "Lancaster;" but the language is ironical.

[177] Fight, contend. The word is borrowed from the game of tennis.

[178] Ed. 1598, "mourned for Hercules." Eds. 1612, 1622, "mourned for of Hercules"—and so Dyce.

[179] Rule. Cf. 1 Tamburlaine, i. 1, l. 119.

[180] Kennel, gutter. Cf.Jew of Malta, v. 1, l. 91.

[181] Dyce proposed to read "Prut prut!" others suppose that the bishop is playing on the word "convey," which was a cant term for "steal." Cf. Richard II. iv. 1, l. 113:—

"Bol. Go, some of you, convey him to the Tower. King. O good! convey! conveyers are you all."

[182] So eds. 1612, 1622.—Ed. 1598 omits "best."

[183] Scene: Westminster.

[185] Are angry at him. We have the word again later in the play—

"I know, my lord, many will stomach me."

[186] Old eds. "Weele."

[187] It is not absolutely necessary to suppose that there is an allusion to any particular forest. What the queen means is that she is seeking solitude.

[188] Scene: a street.

[189] Scene: the New Temple (cf. ll. 74-5 of scene ii.). At the entrance of the king we are to suppose a change of scene.

[190] "Was the poet thinking of Ovid, 'Non bene conveniunt,' &c. Met. ii. 846?"—Dyce.

[191] Perhaps we should read "upon": but "traitor" may be pronounced as a trisyllable by inserting a vowel sound before the first r.

[193] So ed. 1612.—Ed. 1598 "lord."

[194] So ed. 1598.—Ed. 1612 "are."

[195] Loon, worthless fellow.

[196] So ed. 1598.—Dyce prints "with," and neglects—contrary to his custom—to record the reading of the earlier copies.

[197] This line and the preceding occur with slight alteration in the Massacre of Paris:—

"I'll fire his crazèd buildings and incense The papal towers to kiss the holy [sic] earth."

[199] So the old copies.—Dyce reads "My love drops down a tear."

[201] "The entrance of Kent seems to have been marked here by mistake."—Dyce.

[202] 4tos. "Circes."

[203] So ed. 1598.—Ed. 1612 "that."

[204] So ed. 1598.—Dyce (who retains the verb "injury" in 1 Tamburlaine, I, i.) prints silently "injures."

[206] Regard, consideration, Cf. Hamlet—

"There's the respect That makes calamity of so long life."

[208] So ed. 1612.—ed. 1598 "soueraigne."

[209] Affianced him.

[210] Eds. 1598, 1612, "Hector." Ed. 1622 "The conquering Hector did for Hilas weepe."

[211] Cf. 2 Henry VI. i. 3:—

"She bears a duke's revenue on her back."

[212] Worthless fellows.

[213] So ed. 1598.—Later eds. "others."

[214] Scene: a hall in Gloucester's mansion.

[215] So ed. 1612.—Omitted in ed. 1598.

[216] Scene: before Tynemouth Castle.

[217] Reed refers to Pliny's Nat. Hist., ix. 19; but Pliny merely says that the exocœtus would leap on to a rocky ledge in warm weather and there bask in the sun. It is curious that Dyce, who was such an enthusiast for Athenæus, did not refer his readers to the account of the exocœtus quoted from Clearchus in Deipnos. viii. 5. According to this authority the fish, when basking on the ledge, has to be constantly on his guard against king-fishers and the like, and when he sees them afar, flies leaping and gasping until he dives under the water. Perhaps Marlowe had in his mind some embellished account that he had found in Gesner or Bellonius.

[218] So ed. 1612.—Omitted in ed. 1598.

[219] Old eds. "Edw." (a misprint for "Edm."—the prefix in the 4tos. to Kent's speeches.)

[220] Old eds. "gresses" (for "gesses.")— "Jesses" were the straps round a hawk's legs, with rings (called "varvels,") to which the falconer's leash was attached.

[221] So ed. 1622.—Eds. 1598, 1612, "sure."

[222] Old eds. read:—

"Pem. Here, here, king: convey hence Gaveston, thaile murder him."

I have followed Dyce in giving the line "Convey hence Gaveston, &c.," to the king; but I do not agree with him in regarding "king" as a prefix (for in the old copies "Edw." is always the prefix to the king's speeches.)

[223] The reader cannot fail to be reminded of Hotspur:—

"But I will find him when he lies asleep, And in his ear I'll holla 'Mortimer!'"

[224] The scene shifts to the interior of Tynemouth Castle.

[225] So ed. 1612.—Ed. 1598 "would."

[226] So ed. 1612.—Ed. 1598 "thy treasure drie and made the weake."

[227] So modern editors.—Old eds. "hath."

[228] Light-armed foot soldiers, poor and undisciplined.— Compare a passage in the Contention of York and Lancaster:—

"The wild Onele, my lord, is up in arms, With troops of Irish kernes that uncontroll'd Doth plant themselves within the English pale."

[229] Old eds. "made."—"Road,"="Inroad."

[230] old eds. "Drave."

[231] Cf. 3 Henry VI. i. 1:—"Stern Faulconbridge commands the narrow seas."

[234] This jig (ballad) is taken with slight alteration from Fabyan's "Chronicle," ii. 169 (ed. 1559).—"The battle of Bannockburn," says Mr. Fleay, "was fought in 1314, yet is here alluded to in a scene which is made up from narratives of events which occurred between 1309 and 1311. This is a striking instance of Marlowe's carelessness in such matters."

[235] "Common burdens to songs; see Skelton's Works, ii. 110, ed. Dyce."—Dyce.

[236] "Ralph de Wigmore, who came into England with the Conqueror, obtained the Castle of Wigmore, Co. Hereford, and the Roger Mortimer of this play was summoned to Parliament as 'de Wigmore.'"—Cunningham.

[237] Old eds. "him."

[238] Scene: the neighbourhood of Tynemouth.

[241] "In all Latin deeds the Mortimers are called 'de Mortuo mari.'" Cunningham.

[242] Scene: the interior of Tynemouth Castle.

[243] Delay. The word occurs in 3 Henry VI. ii. 3, l. 56; Arden of Feversham, &c.

[244] Old eds. "this."

[245] So ed. 1622.—Eds. 1598, 1612, "and therefore."

[246] "There is such uncertainty about the location of this scene that I can only mark it—an open country."—Dyce.

[247] The Italian form of "maugre."

[248] So ed. 1612.—Ed. 1598 "these."

[249] A line, as Dyce remarks, in which Warwick says that Gaveston shall be beheaded, has dropped out.

[250] The passage is corrupt: I have followed the reading of the old eds. Dyce gives—

"Will now these short delays beget my hopes?"

[251] "When? can you tell?"—a sort of proverbial expression. See Dyce's Shakespeare Glossary.

[252] So Dyce.—Ed. 1598 omits "his." Eds. 1612, 1622, read:— "He that hath the care of Realme-remits." ("Care" must be pronounced as a dissyllable.)

[253] Cunningham reads "sees."

[254] Old eds. "It is."

[255] "The exclamation of those who repent what they have rashly done."—Dyce.

[256] Here and throughout iii. II, the 4tos give "Mat" and "Matreuis" for "Arundel." The mistake arose, as Dyce pointed out, by the parts of Arundel and Matrevis having been taken by the same actor.

[257] Scene: the open country (near Warwick?).

[258] The meaning is surely "ghost, spirit," not, as Mr. Fleay interprets, "representative, plenipotentiary."

[259] Scene: neighbourhood of Borrowbridge.

[260] Braggard challenges.

[262] Old eds "the."

[263] So ed. 1612.—Ed. 1598 "come."

[264] Cunningham and Mr. Fleay silently print "more."

[265] Ed. 1598 "heres is."—Ed. 1612, 1622, "heres."

[266] So ed. 1622.—Eds. 1598, 1612, "roote."

[267] So ed. 1612.—Ed. 1598 "leave."

[269] So ed. 1612.—Ed. 1589 "It is."

[271] Old eds. "leuied."

[272] Old eds. "claps close."

[273] Scene: London, near the Tower.

[275] So eds. 1598, 1622.—Ed. 1612 "goe."

[276] Mr. Fleay reads "please," supposing that the letters th are repeated from the next word.

[277] Dyce's correction "on" seems to be quite unnecessary.

[278] Dyce needlessly reads "part."

[279] Equipped to meet our foes.

[281] An allusion to the game of Prisoner's Base. To "bid a base" is for a player to run into the centre and challenge one of the opposite party to pursue.

[282] Scene: the royal palace, London.

[283] Old eds. "Matr." and "Matreuis."—The elder Spencer is a muta persona. Mr. Fleay, who ousts him altogether from this scene, observes "There is no hint of Old Spencer being on the stage after the third act,"—strangely forgetting that he is introduced in the fifth scene of the present act.

[284] Old eds. "Matr."

[285] So ed. 1598.—Eds. 1612, 1622, "not long ago."

[286] Old eds. "Isabell."

[287] Cf. Romeo and Juliet, iii. 2:—"Gallop apace you fiery-footed steeds," &c.

[288] Scene: the neighbourhood of Harwich.

[290] Scene: the neighbourhood of Bristol.

[291] So ed. 1622.—Eds. 1598, 1612, "successfulls."

[292] As in l. 21 Kent determined to "dissemble," I have not changed the prefix of the old eds. Dyce gives the words to Y. Mor. Mr. Fleay prints—

"Kent. This, Edward, is the ruin, &c. [To the Prince."