227. old] Old ed. “old old.”
228. thine] Old ed. “nine.”
229. Gnotho] Old ed. “Gnothoes.”
230. Gnotho] Old ed. “Gnothoes.”
231. loath to depart] “There was anciently both a tune and a dance of this name; to the former of which Gnotho alludes.”—Gifford.
232. bawd does] Old ed. “bawds doe.”—Rings with deaths’ heads on them used to be worn by procuresses, probably from an affectation of piety: see my ed. of Webster’s Works, iii. 212. and note there.
233. And I’ll bury some money before I die, &c.] “This, as every one knows, was an infallible method of causing the person who did it to walk after death.”—Gifford.
234. Though, &c.] To this line in the old ed. “Hip.” is prefixed.
235. ’gainst] Old ed. “against.”
236. prove] Old ed. “proves.”
237. make] Old ed. “makes.”
238. How sweetly, &c.] In the old ed. this speech, as far as “senses,” is given to Hippolita, and the rest to Cleanthes.
239. the chiefest] Old ed. “the first and chiefest.”
240. can’t] Old ed. “cannot.”
241. comfort] “The old copy has consort, which induced Coxeter to give the speech to Hippolita. I have little doubt but that the mistake is in this word, which should be comfort, as it stands in the text: by this term the fond parent frequently addresses his children. In the mouth of Leonides, too, it forms a natural reply to the question of Cleanthes, who then turns to make the same demand of his wife.”—Gifford.
242. That only, &c.] This and the next line are transposed in the old ed.
243. lightness] Old ed. “lightning.”]
244. propension] Old ed. “proportion.”
245. to afford] Old ed. “t’afford.”
247. That cries most, &c.] “Our old poets abound in allusions to this stratagem of the lapwing.”-Gifford.
248. make] Old ed. “makes.”
249. me] Old ed. “a mee.”
250. affliction] Old ed. “affection.”
251. his] Old ed. “this.”
254. thee] Old ed. “him.”
255. her] Old ed. “their.”
256. and] i. e. if.
257. Clean.] Old ed. “Hip.”
258. eleven] Old ed. “leaven.”
259. fellow] Old ed. “follow.”
260. sit] Old ed. “set.”
261. an] Old ed. “one.”
262. vild] i. e. vile—a form of the word common in our early poetry.
263. Their fathers] Old ed. “Her father.”
264. Widow] Old ed. “Widdows.”
265. Sim.] So Gifford. The old ed. gives this to Eugenia.
266. Ere] Old ed. “Ever.”
267. You] Old ed. “We.”
268. ne’er touch’d by razor] Old ed. “new tucht by reason.” The emendation is M. Mason’s.
269.
It is evident that he did not comprehend the sense, which, though ill conceived and harshly expressed, is,—You have not the years of judges, nor do your heads and beards (old copy, brains) shew more of age.”—Gifford.
270. beauty serves] Old ed. “beautifeaus.”
271. bold] Old ed. “of old.”
272. —— turn the soul] “So the old copy: Coxeter and Mr. M. Mason read, turn the scale, which has neither the spirit nor the sense of the original.”—Gifford.
273. yourselves] Old ed. “yourselfe.”
274. forward for thee without fee] So Gifford. Old ed. has “forward fee thee,” and gives “without fee” as a stage-direction, in the margin.
275. Times of amazement! what duty, goodness dwell—] “Mr. M. Mason takes this for a complete sentence, and would read, Where do you goodness dwell? In any case the alteration would be too violent; but none is needed here. Hippolita sees the woman who betrayed her approaching, breaks off her intended speech with an indignant observation, and hastily retires from the court.”—Gifford.
276. My stomach strives to dinner.] “This is sense, and therefore I have not tampered with it: the author probably wrote, My stomach strikes to dinner.”—Id.
277. Dutch venny] Compare p. 66, 67. Gifford gives “Dutch what-you-call;” and perhaps rightly, as the names of the other two “wet vennies” follow.
278. pepper’d] Old ed. “prepard.”
279. A Flourish, &c.] Old ed.
280. First] Old ed. “2.”
281. Evan. Nay, back t’ your seats] “The old copy reads, Nay, bathe your seats; out of which Mr. M. Mason formed keep; Davis, take; and every one may make what he can. I believe the young men were pressing forward to receive the duke, and that his exclamation was, as above, Nay, back t’ your seats.”—Gifford. This line is given in the old ed. to “2 Court.”
282. Second Court. May’t please, &c.] Old ed.
283. else] So Gifford. Old ed. “as are.”
284. Eug. Your place above] Old ed.
I have followed Gifford in this scene.
285. car’d] Old ed. “guard.” What is now given to Lysander forms part of Simonides’s speech in old ed.
287. offender] Old ed. “offenders.”
288. order] Old ed. “orders.”
289. swoon] Old ed. “stand.”
290. [spreading] palm] “I have inserted spreading, not merely on account of its completing the verse, but because it contrasts well with contracted. Whatever the author’s word was, it was shuffled out of its place at the press, and appears as a misprint (showdu) in the succeeding line.”—Gifford.
291. of] Old ed. “to.”
292. our] Old ed. “one.”
293. And much less mean to entreat it] “For mean the old copy has shown, which is pure nonsense: it stands, however, in all the editions. I have, I believe, recovered the genuine text by adopting mean, which was superfluously inserted in the line immediately below it.”—Gifford.
294. humour] Old ed. “honour.”
295. My lords, it shall] “i. e. it shall be briefly questioned. This would not have deserved a note, had not Mr. M. Mason mistaken the meaning, and corrupted the text to, My lords, I shall.”—Id.
296. you] Old ed. “them.”
297. godlike] Old ed. “goe like.”
298. We’ve] Old ed. “We have.”
299. we’re] Old ed. “wee are.”
300. It is] Old ed. “’Tis.”
301. a] Old ed. “him.”
302. bad] Old ed. “a bad.”
303. you’re] Old ed. “yeare.”
304. ’gainst] Old ed. “against.”
305. judge, I desire, then] Old ed. “judge then, I desire.”
306. This were, &c.] “i. e. O, that this were, &c. But, indeed, this speech is so strangely printed in the quarto, that it is almost impossible to guess what the writer really meant. The first three lines stand thus:
Whether the genuine, or, indeed, any sense be elicited by the additions which I have been compelled to make, is not mine to say; but certainly some allowance will be made for any temperate endeavour to regulate a text where the words, in too many instances, appear as if they had been shook out of the printer’s boxes by the hand of chance.”—Gifford.
307. like] Old ed. “lyar.”
308. they’re] Old ed. “y’are.”
309. Here] Old ed. “Where.”
310. come you] Old ed. “you come.”
311. you are] Old ed. “y’are.”
312. he’s] Old ed. “he is.”
313. Sim.] Old ed. “Clean.”
314. pox] Old ed. “a pox.”
315. Clean.] Old ed. “Sim.”
316. Sim.] Old ed. “Clean.”
318. may challenge them] Old ed. “my challenge then.”
319. Creon.] Old ed. “Cle.”
320. Creon.] Old ed. “Cle.”
321. place] Old ed. “places.”
322. mature] Old ed. “nature.”
323. Clean.] What is now assigned to Cleanthes is given to First Courtier in the old ed.
324. shall] Old ed. “whom it shall.”
325. [shall appear before us] “Whether the words which I have inserted convey the author’s meaning, or not, may be doubted; but they make some sense of the passage, and this is all to which they pretend.”—Gifford.
326. band] So Gifford. Old ed. “baud.”—Qy. did the author write “The old bald sires again?”
327. May] Old ed. “My.”
328. crowd on] i. e. fiddle on. A fiddle is still called a crowd in many parts of England.
329. hat is] Old ed. “hats.”
330. as he is my sovereign, I do give him two crowns for it, &c.] “Here is some poor pun. A sovereign was a gold coin worth ten shillings; or, is the wit in some fancied similarity of sound between duke and ducat (a piece of the same value as the other)?”—Gifford.
331. you will] Old ed. “you’l.”
332. goes] Old ed. “goes out.”
333. the] Old ed. “a.”
335. and] i. e. if.
336. Gnotho] Old ed. “Gnothoes.”
337. at] Old ed. “to.”
338. Gnotho] Old ed. “Gnothoes.”
339. that] Old ed. “where that.”
340. trumpet] Old ed. “trumpets.”
341. hop’d it had] Old ed. “hope t’ had.”
342. Gnotho] Old ed. “Gnothoes.”
343. This passion has given some satisfaction yet] “i.e. this pathetic exclamation: it is parodied in part from the Spanish Tragedy, and is, without all question, by far the stupidest attempt at wit to which that persecuted play ever gave rise. That it afforded some satisfaction to Lysander, ought, in courtesy, to be attributed to his having more good nature than taste.”—Gifford.
344. All hopes, &c.] Gifford has given the four first lines of this speech as verse, and I follow him. The rhymes seem to have been lost in the wretched corruption of the text.
345. my] Old ed. “our.”
346. but] Old ed. “fashion, but.”
347. were] Old ed. “have.”
348. return] Old ed. “retaine.”
349. bind] Old ed. “bound.”
350. regent] Old ed. “regents.”
351. grow] Old ed. “grew.”
352. joy] Old ed. “joyed.”
353. Gentlemen, &c.] The publisher’s address to the readers.
354. An allusion to the suppression of the theatres by the Puritans.
355. “Huntingdon, the place where Oliver Cromwell was born, and resided many years of his life. Some allusion here seems to be lost.”—Reed.
356. Raynulph] “Raynulph Higden was the compiler of the Polychronicon, as far as the year 1357, thirty-first of Edward III. It was translated into English by Trevisa, and completed and printed by Caxton in folio, 1482.”—Reed.
358. apaid] i. e. satisfied, contented.
359. Before a Monastery] The place of action is not noted in the old ed., and Middleton seems to have troubled himself little about the matter. After some hesitation, I have marked the present scene “Before a Monastery,” on account of what Constantius says at p. 131:
That the scene cannot be within the monastery, is shewn by the entrance of the two Graziers.
360. They’re] Old ed. “They are.”
361. I’m] Old ed. “I am.”
362. We’re] Old ed. “we are.”
363. Who’s] Old ed. “Who is.”
364. general peace] Compare p. 127, l. 12.
365. acts] Old ed. “actions:” so afterwards in Act iii. Sc. i. the old ed. has “If I ensnare her in an action of lust.”
366. requite] Old ed. “require.”
367. preas’d] i. e. pressed. Old ed. “prais’d.” Prease for press is very common in our early poets.
368. I’ve] Old ed. “I have.”
369. e’er] Old ed. “ever.”
370. ’t] Old ed. “it.”
371. remorse] i. e. pity.
372. I’m] Old ed. “I am.”
373. thy] Old ed. “the.”
374. we’d] Old ed. “wee’ld.”
375. recover’t] Old ed. “recovered.”
376. like] i. e. please.
377. you’ve] Old ed. “You have.”
378. enter] Old ed. “enters.”
379. passion] i. e. sorrow.
380. you’re] Old ed. “you are.”
381. rushes] “With which anciently rooms used to be strewed.”—Reed.
382. Byrlady] i. e. By our lady.
383. seems by my flesh] An allusion to a very gross saying, which will be found in Ray’s Proverbs, p. 179, ed. 1737.
384. We’re] Old ed. “We are.”
385. nice] i. e. scrupulous.
386. I’ve] Old ed. “I have.”
387. like] i. e. please.