513. Your abbess Aldegund] Or Aldegundes—“daughter of Walbert of the royal blood of France,” &c. Id. vol. i. p. 451.
514. Cunegund] i. e. the Empress Cunegundes, wife of St. Henry duke of Bavaria, afterwards king of the Romans: she and her husband received the imperial crown at Rome, &c. Id. vol. iii. p. 17.
515. the widow Marcell] i. e. Marcella, the Roman lady celebrated by St. Jerome. Id. vol. i. p. 459.—So two eds. Quarto C. “Alarcell.”
516. parson Polycarp] The famous bishop of Smyrna. Id. vol. i. p. 289.
517. Cecily] See account of St. Cecily. Id. vol. xi. p. 395.
518. Ursula] See account of “St. Ursula and her Companions.” Id. vol. x. p. 463.
519. a lame soldier] Ignatius had his leg broken by a cannon-shot at the siege of Pampeluna, where he displayed great valour. Id. vol. vii. p. 405.
520. mastery] i. e. masterly operation (a sense of the word common in our earliest poetry).
521. I behold] So two eds. Quarto C. “I could behold.”
522. Le roc, &c.] “In modern times,” says Strutt, “the roc is corruptedly called a rook, but formerly it signified a rock or fortress, or rather, perhaps, the keeper of the fortress.” Sports, &c., p. 233.
523. custode] “A guardian, keeper.” Cotgrave in v.—Two eds. “custodie”—better for the metre, but contrary to the sense.
524. daughter] So two eds. Quarto C. “daughters.”
525. Black] So two eds. Quarto C. “the.”
526. performents] i. e. performances. So two eds. Quarto C. “preferments.”
527. one] So two eds. Quarto C. “me.”
528. weep] So two eds. Quarto C. “wept.”
529. firmer] So two eds. Quarto C. “firme.”
530. Disarms] So two eds. Quarto C. “This-Armes.”
531. the] So two eds. Not in Quarto C.
532. Can] So two eds. Quarto C. “Will.”
533. Jesuitess] So two eds. Quarto C. “Jesuite.”
534. worth] So two eds. Quarto C. “wealth.”
535. the] So two eds. Quarto C. “their.”
536. by] So two eds. Quarto C. “by’th.”
537. important] So both MSS. Eds. “importune” and “importinant.”
538. Dost] So two eds. Quarto C. “Doe you.”
539. made] So two eds. Not in Quarto C.
540. the opening eyelids of the morn] Adopted by Milton;
541. discovering] So Bridge. MS. Eds. “disclosing.”
542. that] So two eds. Quarto C. “the.”
543. your night-counsels] Two eds. and MS. Bridge, have “yours might counsell neerer;” but that the reading of Quarto C., which I have followed, is the right one, appears from the second line of the next speech, “Guilty of that black time.” MS. Lansd. differs only from Quarto C. in having “counsell.”
544. fond] i. e. foolish. So both MSS. Quarto C. “sound.” Other eds. have “some sinful, some sound.”
545. Clad] So two eds. Quarto C. “Cal’d.”
546. competitor] So two eds. Quarto C. “competitors.”
547. fond] See note in preceding page.
548. I] So two eds. Quarto C. “Il’d.”
549. Have I] So two eds. Quarto C. “I haue.”
550. of it] So two eds. Quarto C. “of.”
551. destroy fruit] “The leaues of Sauin boyled in Wine and drunke ... expell the dead childe, and kill the quick.” Gerarde’s Herball, p. 1378, ed. 1633.
552. resolved] i. e. satisfied.
553. An] So two eds. Quarto C. “And.”
554. casible] Or chesible: “Fyrst do on the amys, than the albe, than the gyrdell, than the manyple, than the stoole, than the chesyble.” Hormanni Vulgaria, sig. E iiii. ed. 1530.
555. great] So two eds. Not in Quarto C.
556. diviner] So two eds. Quarto C. “diuine.”
557. have] So two eds. Quarto C. “I haue.”
558. And what I've done, &c.] “Gondomar was at this time the Spanish Ambassador in England; a man whose flattery was the more artful, because covered with the appearance of frankness and sincerity; whose politics were the more dangerous, because disguised under the masque of mirth and pleasantry.” Hume’s Hist. of England, vol. vi. p. 40, ed. 1763.
559. these] So two eds. Quarto C. “this.”
560. guitonens] A word of reproach, I suppose, formed from the Spanish guiton, vagrant, vagabond. Quarto C. and MS. Lansd. “Guytinens.” MS. Bridge. “Guitenens.” Two eds. “great ones.”
561. pusills] So Quarto C. and both MSS. Two eds. “pupills.”—Pusill, written variously, puzzel, &c., meant a drab: see notes of the commentators on the line “Pucelle or puzzel,” &c., in Shakespeare’s Henry VI. Part First, act i. sc. 4.
562. the great work, the main existence] So MS. Bridge. Eds. “the maine worke, the great existence.”
563. fame] So two eds. Quarto C. “name.”
564. jealious] A trisyllable, for the metre.
565. heard] So two eds. Quarto C. “read.”
566. gently] So two eds. Quarto C. “lately.”
567. what have we here] So MS. Lansd. Not in eds.
568. Strange! &c.] So two eds. The line not in Quarto C.
569. what] So two eds. Quarto C. “that.”
570. Well here set down] So both MSS. Quarto C. “Well, here I set downe.” Other eds. “Well set her downe.”
571. in] So two eds. Quarto C. “and.”
572. much] So two eds. Quarto C. “most.”
573. stir] So both MSS. Quarto C. “spread.” Other eds. “flye.”
574. never was] So two eds. Quarto C. “was neuer.”
575. safety] MS. Bridge. “faith.”
576. Yours] So two eds. and MS. Bridge. Quarto C. and MS. Lansd. “Yon’d.”
577. offerer] So both MSS. Quarto C. “Officer.” Other eds. “offerors.”
578. thy] So two eds. Quarto C. “the.”
579. deep] So two eds. Quarto C. “great.”
580. my love] Qy. “my loss”? MS. Lansd. “thy loue.”
581. make] So both MSS. Eds. “make me.”
582. But by, &c.] So two eds. Quarto C. “But thine Honors losse, that Act must arme thee.”
583. thou] So MS. Bridge. Not in eds.
584. resist] So two eds. and both MSS. Quarto C. “reiect.”
585. confound] Eds. and MSS. “confound noise.”
586. that] So two eds. Quarto C. “the.”
587. pliant] So two eds. Quarto C. “pleasant.”
588. cautelous] i. e. artfully cautious.
590. B. Bishop] So two eds. Quarto C. “Bl. Kin.”
591. hath] To this word here and in the two following lines Quarto C. prefixes “he;” but two eds. omit it.
592. trow?] i. e. think you?
593. an] So two eds. Quarto C. “one.”
594. able] i. e. warrant, answer for.
595. me ’em] So MS. Bridge. Quarto C. “’em me.” In two eds. “me” omitted.
596. all] So two eds. and both MSS. Omitted in Quarto C.
597. in] So two eds. Omitted in Quarto C.
598. Fat Bishop] “He [Antonio] was of a comely personage, tall stature, gray beard, graue countenance, fair language, fluent expression, somewhat abdominous, and corpulent in his body.” Fuller’s Church History, B. x. p. 100, ed. 1655. “Allowing Spalato diligent in writing, his expression was a notorious hyperbole, when saying, In reading, meditation, and writing I am almost pined away; otherwise his fat cheeks did confute his false tongue in that expression.” Id. B. x. p. 95.
599. my books] “He [Antonio] falls now [after receiving his preferments in England] to perfect his Books. For his Works were not now composed, but corrected; not compiled, but completed; as being, though of English birth, of Italian conception. For formerly the Collections were made by him at Spalato, but he durst not make them publick for fear of the Inquisition. His Works (being three fair Folios, De Republica Ecclesiastica) give ample testimony of his sufficiency. Indeed he had a controversial head, with a strong and clear stile, nor doth an hair hang at the neb of his pen to blurre his writings with obscurity: but, first understanding himself, he could make others understand him. His writings are of great use for the Protestant cause.” Fuller’s Church History, B. x. p. 95, ed. 1655.—When Bedell was at Venice (as chaplain to Sir Henry Wotton, then ambassador there), Antonio “discovered his secret to him, and shewed him his ten Books De Republica Ecclesiastica, which he afterwards printed at London: Bedell took the freedom which he allowed him, and corrected many ill applications of Texts of Scripture and Quotations of Fathers. For that Prelate being utterly ignorant of the Greek Tongue, could not but be guilty of many mistakes both in the one and the other.” Burnet’s Life of Bedell, p. 10, ed. 1692.
600. drink] So two eds. Quarto C. “feede.”
602. master of the beds] i. e. master of the Hospital of the Savoy. On his first arrival in England Antonio resided with the Archbishop of Canterbury; “and having lived long at Lambeth House, they grew even weary of him, for he was somewhat an unquiet man, and not of that fair, quiet, civil carriage as would give contentment. This he perceiving made bold to write unto the king, desiring him that he might not live always at another man’s table, but that he might have some subsistence of his own: whereupon the King so contrived it, that although the mastership of the Savoy had been given to another, yet was it resigned and conferred upon him.” Goodman’s Court of King James, vol. i. p. 339—an interesting work, now at press under the editorship of the Rev. J. S. Brewer.
603. shut and open] Eds. “shuts and opens.”
604. the fistula, &c.] Gondomar, as various writers mention, was troubled with that disease.
605. prescrib’d] So MS. Lansd. Eds. “prouided.”
606. provided] So MS. Lansd. Eds. “inuented.”
607. what a most uncatholic jest, &c.] “Amongst other of his ill qualities, he [Antonio] delighted in jeering, and would spare none who came in his way. One of his sarcasmes he unhappily bestowed on Count Gondomar, the Spanish Ambassador, telling him, That three turns at Tiburne was the onely way to cure his Fistula. The Don, highly offended hereat (pained for the present more with this flout than his fistula) meditates revenge, and repairs to King James. He told His Majesty, that His charity (an errour common in good Princes) abused His judgment, in conceiving Spalato a true convert, who still in heart remained a Roman Catholick. Indeed, His Majesty had a rare felicity in discovering the falsity of Witches and forgery of such who pretended themselves possessed: but, under favour, was deluded with this mans false spirit, and, by His Majesties leave, he would detect unto Him this his hypocrisie. The King cheerfully embraced his motion, and left him to the liberty of his own undertakings. The Ambassadour writeth to His Catholick Majesty; He to his Holinesse Gregory the fifteenth, that Spalato might be pardoned, and preferred in the Church of Rome, which was easily obtained. Letters are sent from Rome to Count Gondomar, written by the Cardinal Millin, to impart them to Spalato, informing him that the Pope had forgiven and forgotten all which he had done or written against the Catholick Religion; and upon his return, would preferre him to the Bishoprick of Salerno in Naples, worth twelve thousand crowns by the year. A Cardinal’s Hat also should be bestowed upon him. And if Spalato, with his hand subscribed to this Letter, would renounce and disclaim what formerly he had printed, an Apostolical Breve, with pardon, should solemnly be sent him to Bruxels. Spalato embraceth the motion, likes the pardon well, the preferment better, accepts both, recants his opinions largely, subscribes solemnly, and thanks his Holinesse affectionately for his favour. Gondomar carries his subscription to King James, who is glad to behold the Hypocrite unmasked, appearing in his own colours; yet the discovery was concealed and lay dormant some daies in the deck [i. e. pack—of cards], which was in due time to be awakened.” Fuller’s Church History, B. x. p. 95, ed. 1655. The circumstances which led to Antonio’s departure from England are differently related, and without any mention of Gondomar, in Goodman’s Court of King James, vol. i. p. 345.
608. balloon-ball] i. e. a large inflated ball of leather. The game of balloon, in which the player strikes the ball with a flat piece of wood fastened to the arm, is still (as Gifford observes,—note on B. Jonson’s Works, vol. iii. p. 216) very common on the continent.
609. bishop absent] So Quarto C. and MS. Lansd. Two eds. “bishops dead.” MS. Bridge. deficient here, and to the end of the act.—Neither reading agrees well with what follows: see p. 353.
610. blindness] So two eds. Quarto C. “boldnesse.”
611. I must confess] So two eds. and MS. Lansd. Not in Quarto C.
612. W. Bish.] So two eds. Quarto C. “Wh. P.”
613. Have] Eds. “Hath” and “Has.”
614. terrors] So two eds. Quarto C. “terrour.”
615. Quit] Eds. “Quits.”
616. wonder] So two eds. Quarto C. “wounds.”
617. scar’d] So two eds. Quarto C. “seiz’d.”
618. his] So two eds. Quarto C. “this.”
619. B. Bish.] So two eds. Quarto C. “Bl. Bi. P.”
620. after] So two eds. Quarto C. “following.”
621. or] So two eds. Quarto C. “&.”
622. quit] i. e. acquit.
623. remove] So two eds. Quarto C. “roome.”
624. Craft] So MS. Lansd. Quarto C. “Crafts.” Other eds. “Trust” (misprint for “Lust”).
625. more unclean] So two eds. Quarto C. “vncleaner.”
627. more] So MS. Lansd. Quarto C. “most.” Not in other eds.
628. Yesterday’s] So two eds. Quarto C. “Yesterday.”
629. Ruin] Eds. and MS. Lansd. “Ruin enough.”
630. W. King] So MS. Lansd. Eds. “Wh. Kni.”
631. W. King] So two eds. Quarto C. “Wh. Kni.”
632. W. Kg.'s Pawn] So MS. Lansd. Quarto C. “Wh. Q. P.” Two eds. “W. Kt. p.” That the White King’s Pawn is the speaker appears from the next speech; and compare p. 326.
633. W. King] So two eds. Quarto C. “Wh. Kni.”
634. strong] So two eds. Quarto C. “wrong.”
635. W. Kg.'s Pawn] So MS. Lansd. Quarto C. “W. Qu. P.” Two eds. “W. Kt. p.”
636. endear’d] Two eds. “indeede.” But compare p. 325, last line.
637. W. King] So two eds. here and at next speech but one. Quarto C. “Wh. Kni.”
638. that] So MS. Lansd. Not in eds.
639. thou left] So two eds. and MS. Lansd. Quarto C. “thou so left.”
640. flight] Meant, in archery, a long, light-feathered, straight-flying arrow.
641. niceness] i. e. squeamishness, scrupulousness.
642. B. King] So two eds. and MS. Lansd. Quarto C. “Bl. Bish.”
643. luxury] i. e. lust.
644. diseas’d bed-rid] So both MSS. Quarto C. “disea’d Bed-rid.” Other eds. “disease-bred.”
645.
Or dean of the poor alms-knights that wear badges] See note, p. 339. The poor alms-knights—i. e. the Poor Knights of Windsor.—“About half a year after [his appointment to the Mastership of the Savoy, Antonio received] the deanery of Windsor; both which preferments might amount to four hundred and thirty pounds per annum, or thereabout.” Goodman’s Court of King James, vol. i. p. 340. According to Hacket, “these together were worth to him 800l. per Annum. They brought in no less, and he would not loose a Peny of his Due; but studied to exact more than ever by Custom had been received by any of those Dignitaries. Of which Sharking, his Majesty once admonished him: Yet his Veins were not full, but he got himself presented by the Church of Windsor to a good Benefice, says Mr. Ri. Montagu, West Ilsly in Barkshire, where he made a shift to read the Articles of 1562 in English, pro more Clericali, and subscribed to them.” Life of Archb. Williams, P. i. p. 98, ed. 1693.
646. other titles] “Now it happened a false rumour was spread that Tobie Matthew, Archbishop of Yorke (who died yearly in report) was certainly deceased. Presently posts Spalato to Theobalds; becomes an importunate Petitioner to the King for the vacant Archbishoprick, and is as flatly denied; the King conceiving, He had given enough already to him if gratefull, too much if ungratefull. Besides the King would never bestow an Episcopal charge in England on a forraigner, no not on His own Countrey-men; some Scotish-men being preferred to Deanries, none to Bishopricks. Spalato offended at this repulse (for he had rather had Yorke than Salerno [see quotation from Fuller, note, p. 341], as equal in wealth, higher in dignity, neerer in place) requests His Majesty by his Letter to grant His good leave to depart the Kingdome, and to return into Italy.” Fuller’s Church History, B. x. p. 96, ed. 1655. See also Hacket’s Life of Archb. Williams, P. i. p. 98. ed. 1693.
647. skip] So both MSS. Eds. “slip.”
648. true] So two eds. and both MSS. Omitted in Quarto C.
649.
650. And let forth, &c.] So two eds. and MS. Bridge. The line not in Quarto C. or MS. Lansd.
651. With] So two eds. Quarto C. “In.”
652. gallant fleet] So two eds. and both MSS. Quarto C. “pretious safe-guard.”—“By his Artifices and Negotiations (having been time enough Ambassador in England to gain credit with the King) he [Gondomar] got Sir Robert Mansell (the Vice-Admirall) to go into the Mediterranean sea, with a Fleet of Ships to fight against the Turks at Algier, who were grown too strong and formidable for the Spaniard (most of the King of Spains Gallions attending the Indian Trade, as Convoys for his Treasures, which he wanted to supply his Armies) and he transported Ordnance and other Warlike Provisions to furnish the Spanish Arsenalls, even while the Armies of Spain were battering the English in the Palatinate.” Wilson’s Life and Reign of James, p. 145, ed. 1653.
653. jails fly open, &c.] “Count Gondomar was the active Instrument to advance this Match [of Prince Charles with the Infanta], who so carried himself in the twilight of jest-earnest, that with his jests he pleased His Majesty of England, and with his earnest he pleasured his Master of Spaine. Having found out the length of King James’s foot, he fitted Him with so easie a shooe, which pained Him not (no, not when he was troubled with the gout), this cunning Don being able to please Him in His greatest passion. And although the Match was never effected, yet Gondomar whilst negotiating the same, in favour to the Catholick cause, procured of his Majesty the enlargment of all Priests and Jesuits through the English Dominions.... These Jesuits, when at liberty, did not gratefully ascribe their freedome to his Majestie’s mercy, but onely to His willingnesse to rid and clear His gaoles over-pestered with prisoners.” Fuller’s Church History, B. x. p. 100, ed. 1655. See also Wilson’s Life and Reign of James, p. 145, ed. 1653.