845. Without thee] The earlier part of this line seems to have dropt out.
846. That wedlock’s, &c.] This line is imperfect; and after the next line, something is lost.
847. a’m] i. e. them: a’ is often used for he in our early dramas.
848. clip] i. e. embrace.
849. Indeed all, &c.] Probably in this and the next speech of Fidelio, the metre is lost by the corruption of the text.
850. Discover quickly] He means—let us discover ourselves quickly.
851. know] Old eds. “knowes.”
852. and] i. e. if.
853. I’m] Old eds. “I am.”
855. contain] i. e. restrain.
856. who] So ed. 1630. First ed. “whome.”
857. ha’] Old eds. “a ha.”
858. You have] Old eds. “Y’aue.”
859. apparance] i. e. appearance.
860. Suitor] This word I have substituted for the “Whin.” of the 1st ed. and the “Whi.” of the second.—Perhaps Tangle ought not to enter till Falso says, “What, old signior,” &c.
861. good] So ed. 1630. First ed. “gour.”
862. When] So ed. 1630. First ed. has “Wheu:” but when, as an expression of impatience, occurs often in our early dramatists:
863. prevent] i. e. anticipate.
864. sidemen] Or sidesmen—i. e. assistants to the churchwarden.
865. scandala magnatum] This form seems to have been common; so Taylor, the water-poet;
See also The Sculler, p. 29, ibid.
866. a writ of execution, Rapier and Dagger] These words are given to Falso in the old eds.—Ed. 1630 makes sad work in the distribution of the speeches here.
867. Reinish] a wretched pun—Rhenish.
868. Non vacat, &c.] Ovid. Trist. ii. 216.
869. Byrlady] a corruption of By our Lady.
870. Tan.] So ed. 1630. First ed. “Fals.”
872. Longswords] So ed. 1630. First ed. “Longsword.”
873. by th’] So ed. 1630. First ed. “by th’ the.”
874. he] So ed. 1630. First ed. “heele.”
875. Exeunt] After this word in the old eds. is the following direction, intended for the benefit of the performers, not of the reader: “Toward the close of the musick [played between the acts] the Justices three men prepare for a robberie.”
876. truss me] To truss means to tie the points or tagged laces by which the hose or breeches was attached to the doublet.
877. to] So ed. 1630. Not in First ed.
878. venery] i. e. hunting.
879. Latronello] Old eds. “Latronello, and Fuca.”
880. under covert barn] i. e. when he may rob under protection. Barn is a familiar corruption of baron. A wife is said in law to be under covert baron, as sheltered by marriage under her husband.
881. slinking] Ed. 1630, “stinking.”
882. northern dozens] In The Rates of the Custome House, &c. 1582, among the cloths enumerated we find
Strutt cites the following act: “Every Northern cloth shall be seven quarters of a yard in width, from twenty-three to twenty-five yards in length, and weigh sixty-six pounds each piece; the half piece of each cloth, called dozens, shall run from twelve to thirteen yards in length, the breadth being the same, and shall weigh thirty-six pounds.”—Dress and Habits, &c. vol. ii. p. 197.
883. gear] i. e. matter.
885. Was it your loss, &c.] Old eds.
which destroys the metre.
886. lord] Ed. 1630, “lady.”
888. cast] i. e. vomit.
889. Exeunt] I found it impossible to preserve an equality in the length of the acts in this drama. The stage-direction in the old copies (see p. 367, note), shews plainly that a new act commences with the entrance of “Falso untrussed;” and it was necessary to close that act with the present scene, where the Jeweller’s Wife, parting from her paramour at night, desires him to come to her “to-morrow” about the same hour. The morning of that “to-morrow” has arrived, when Phœnix and Proditor enter in the next scene; during which, as the reader will observe, time is supposed to pass away with astonishing rapidity.
890. Phoenix] How happens Proditor to address the pretended assassin by his real name, not only here but also at the commencement of act v., where the word, forming part of a line, cannot be thrown out as a printer’s interpolation?
That Proditor knew the prince by the name of Phœnix appears from act i. sc. 2, where he says,
Perhaps Middleton committed this oversight in the haste of composition.
891. toy] i. e. whim, fancy, conceit.
892. most] Old eds. “more.”
894. horse and foot] So in The Famous Historye of Thomas Stukeley, 1605: “Shee’s mine horse and foote.”—Sig. B. 2.
895. again] i. e. against.
897. and] i. e. if.
898. do] Old eds. “do’s.”
900. hurt] Old eds. “heart.”
901. ’Tis coming, &c.] A speech which seems to have been originally all verse.
902. carpet] i. e. table-cover.—Gifford (Ben Jonson’s Works, vol. v. p. 182) explains it “embroidered rug:” but why “rug?” the finest Turkey carpets were formerly used for covering tables, as many old pictures testify.—That carpet also meant sometimes a bed-cover appears from the following passage of Brathwaite:
903. marmoset] i. e. little monkey.
904. and] i. e. if.
906. sixpenny ordinary] There were ordinaries of all prices. Our author notices, in Father Hubburd’s Tales, a three-half-penny ordinary; in No Wit, no Help like a Woman’s, a twelvepenny ordinary, act ii. sc. 3; in The Black Book, an eighteenpenny ordinary; in A Trick to catch the Old One, a two-shilling ordinary, act i. sc. 1; Fletcher, in The Wild-Goose Chase, a ten-crown ordinary, act i. sc. 1; and our author, in Father Hubburd’s Tales, mentions a person who had spent five pounds at a sitting in an ordinary.
907. overflown] i. e. drunk.—“The young Gentleman is come in, Madam, and as you foresaw very high flowne, but not so drunke as to forget your promise.”—Brome’s Mad Couple well Match’d, act iv. sc. 2. Five New Playes, 1653.
908. tread] A friend would read “thread,”—with an allusion to the sport called Running at the Ring, when the tilter, riding at full speed, endeavoured to thrust the point of his lance through, and to bear away, the ring, which was suspended at a fixed height. But the text is quite right. G. Markham gives particular directions how to make a horse tread the ring—i. e. perform various movements in different directions within a ring marked out on a piece of ground: see Cheape and good Husbandry, &c., p. 18, sqq. ed. 1631.
909. approve] i. e. prove.
910. revenue] Phœnix accidentally uses the word by which, as the reader will remember, the Knight is accustomed to address the Jeweller’s Wife.
911. Adieu, farewell, &c.] The Knight is supposed to enter from a tavern, and to be taking leave of the companions with whom he had been carousing.
913. rouses] i. e. bumpers: see Gifford’s note on The Duke of Milan, Massinger’s Works, vol. i. p. 239, sec. ed.
914. mullwines] A vulgar corruption of mulled wines.
915. Argo] Like the argal of the grave-digger in Hamlet—a vulgarism for ergo.
916. two most famous universities, Poultry and Wood-street] i. e. the Counter prisons in the Poultry and Wood-street. The same piece of wit occurs in our author’s Michaelmas Term and in his Roaring Girl. So also in Fennor’s Compter’s Commonwealth, 1617; “But before I was matriculated in one of these city universities,” &c. p. 4: and in Jordan’s Walks of Islington and Hogsdon, &c. 1657, where Wildblood, when brought into Wood-street Counter, says, “I have commenced in this college before now,” act iv. sc. 1.
917. from the Master’s side down to ... the Hole] The best side or department in those prisons was called the Master’s side; and one of the worst, the Hole: see Fennor’s Compter’s Commonwealth, pp. 4, 5, 11, 18, 62, 69, 79; and Jordan’s Walks of Islington and Hogsdon, &c. act iv.
Gifford (note on B. Jonson’s Works, vol. ii. p. 208) mentions the Knights’ ward as if it had been the best department; but, I believe, it was the second best,—after the Master’s side.
920. make a foot-cloth’d posterity] i. e. make your descendants persons of great consequence, riding with foot-cloths (long housings) on their horses.
921. keep] Old eds. “keeps.”
922. -quicking] So ed. 1630. First ed. “qucking.”—Query, “quickening.”
923. At his first rising, &c.] The words of Proditor to Phœnix, see p. 396.
924. What’s here] Old eds. “Whats heere my Lord:” the printer having by mistake inserted the exclamation of Proditor twice.
925. affirm’t] Old eds. “affirme it.”
927. what make I here?] i. e. what business have I here?
928. contained in] i. e. restrained in, confined to.
929. Discovers himself] This stage-direction, which is not in the 1st ed., is given as part of the dialogue in ed. 1630,—“to approoue it discouers himselfe.”
930. keeps] i. e. dwells.
931. stings] Old eds. “strings” and “string.”
932. this diamond] Which the Jeweller’s Wife had given to Phoenix: see p. 391.
933. Torment again!] Ed. 1630 has “Tormentagent:” qy. did the author write “Torment’s agent?” Compare The Old Law (p. 31), where Evander calls the executioner “Agent for death.”
934. wrack] i. e. wreck.
935. mistress] So ed. 1630. First ed. “Master.”
936. ne’er] Old eds. “never.”
937. those] So ed. 1630. First ed. “these.”
938. Turks] So ed. 1630. First ed. “Turke.”
939. She never saw the dogs and the bears fight] At Paris-Garden, in Southwark. Brathwait, (writing several years after this play was produced, though at what particular date is uncertain,) mentions it as one of the chief “sights” in London.
Barnabees Journall, sig. L. 3. 1st ed. n. d. (Sec. Part, note.)
940. war’s] So ed. 1630. First ed. “war.”
941. least] So ed. 1630. First ed. “left.”
942. fathom] i. e. comprehension,—compass of thought or contrivance.—Old eds. “fadome.”
943. advance] Old eds. “aduanceth.”
944. agen] So the word is generally written by our early poets; and where the rhyme requires that spelling, it ought not to be modernised.
945. neasts] i. e. nests—for the sake of the rhyme. So Brome;
946. The Middle, &c.] The old eds. do not mark the place of action; but the circumstance of the “bills” (see p. 423) evidently shews that the poet intended this scene to lie in the middle aisle of St. Paul’s. That bills (advertisements) used to be posted up there, and that persons of all descriptions were in the habit of resorting thither, both for business and amusement, might be proved by citations from various writers: it is sufficient to refer the reader to Ben Jonson’s Every Man out of his Humour, act i. sc. 1.
947. You’ve] Old eds. “You have.”
948. possess’d] i. e. persuaded, convinced: so Brome;
950. Shortyard, &c.] Old eds. “with his two spirits, Shortyard,” &c.—It should seem that these assistants of Quomodo’s villany were more than mere mortal agents: vide the first speech of Shortyard in the 3d scene of act iii.
951. look sleek] So ed. 1630. First ed. “looke, seeke.”
952. Ne] i. e. Nor—an archaism.
953. Observe ... gallantry] Qy. did the author mean this speech to open with two rhyming lines?
955. subtilty’s] Old eds. “subtiltie is.”
957. this] Old eds. “tis.”
958. Has forgot, &c.] The next speech of Rearage concludes a couplet, which can only be rendered complete by the following awkward arrangement of the text;
But let me observe, that Middleton, when he introduces a couplet, does not always think it necessary that the first line should consist of as many feet as the second: compare the lines at the end of the fourth act of this play;
See also The Phœnix, p. 351, where my remark (note 845) about the dropping out of part of the line was inconsiderate.
Nor is this somewhat slovenly style of writing peculiar to our author: in one of Brome’s plays, a speech which consists of regular blank verse concludes with the following couplet;
959. respective] i. e. respectful.
960. I’d] Old eds. “I had.”
961. I’ve] Old eds. here and in the next line but three, “I have.”
963. pains] So ed. 1630. First ed. “payne.”
964. apperil] i. e. peril: see Gifford’s note—B. Jonson’s Works, vol. v. p. 137.
965. death of sturgeon] There seems to be some corruption in the text here.
966. and] i. e. if.
967. aloof off] Lethe again uses this expression, act iii. sc. 1, “since only her consent kept aloof off, what might I think,” &c.
968. Some, poor, &c.] i. e. Would that some poor, &c.
969. scurvy murrey kersey] Equivalent, perhaps, to poor piece of stuff.
970. and] i. e. if.
971. kersened] A vulgarism for christened.
972. disguise] Old eds. “disquire.”
973. and] i. e. if.
974. braver] i. e. more richly clad.
975. and] i. e. if.
976. Hellgill] Old eds. “Lethes Pandar:” his name, as we find afterwards, is Dick Hellgill.
977. thrummed] Seems here to mean thatched: the father of the Country Wench, speaking of her (act ii. sc. 2), says,
Thrum is, properly, the tuft at the end of the warp in weaving.
978. a loose-bodied gown] Is frequently mentioned as a common dress of courtesans: so Taylor, the water-poet;