Fletcher's, who, as usual, spoiled Massinger's fine conception of
Barnavelt, and makes him whine like Buckingham in _Henry VIII_. This
moral collapse of all energy in the face of death in the two characters
is significant. Massinger would have carried out the scene in quite
another tone. Some of the Fletcher scenes in this play, in which he has
an unusually large share, are surprisingly good, and remind us of
Fletcher at his best, in _Philaster_ and the earlier plays. He fails
here, as he always does, in the delineation of character. Nowhere is
this break-down more characteristic than in Buckingham and Barnavelt. It
gives the end of our play quite a wrench, and deprives Barnavelt of the
sympathies which we had been forced to turn on him through his intrepid
behaviour in the great trial scene. We had almost gained the conviction
that his aims were really pure, and here we are called on to witness his
utter collapse, in which he almost whines for pardon for his sins, and,
like all worthless fellows without character seems actually to soften in
gratitude to the man who sent him to his death.
This conclusion, I say, weakens the dramatic power of the close, but it
does not prevent Sir John Barnavelt from occupying a high place among
our dramatic treasures. R. BOYLE.
ST. PETERSBURG,
New Year's Eve, 1882.
FINIS.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Vid. Appendix.
[2] Reprinted in Mrs. Bray's _Tamar and the Tavy_.
[3] Printed in _The Court and Times uf Charles the First_, &c. Edited,
with an introduction and notes, by the author of _Memoirs of Sophia
Dorothea, Consort of George I_., &c. (Vol. i. p. 104. London, 1848.)
8vo.
[4] Mr. Fleay thinks that _Dick of Devonshire_ was written by
R. Davenport. "The conduct of the plot," he observes, "the
characterisation, the metre, the language are very like the _City
Nightcap_." The reader must judge between us. I find it difficult to
believe that Davenport could have preserved throughout five acts such
clear directness of style.
[5] The old form of "pop-gun."
[6] Xeres.
[7] Cadiz.
[8] Span. picaro, a rogue or thief. Nares quotes several instances of
"picaro" and "picaroon" from our early writers.
[9] It would be an improvement to read "enkindled," or "kindled at the
first."
[10] Cf. Heywood's _Faire Maid of the West_: part one (Works, II. 306),
"And joyne with you a ginge of lusty ladds." The meaning is "band,
company." The word is not uncommon among Elizabethan writers, and is
also found much earlier.
[11] Span. caraca, a ship of large size. Nares quotes from Beaumont and
Fletcher.
[12] Halliwell quotes Minsheu: "The Spanish _borachoe_, or bottle
commonly of a pigges skinne, with the haire inward, dressed inwardly
with rozen and pitch to keepe wine or liquor sweet." Hence the word came
to be applied to a drunkard.
[13] A stately Spanish dance. Nares' article sub. 'Pavan' is full and
interesting.
[14] The repetition of the words "such a" is probably a clerical error:
the Alexandrine is clumsy.
[15] Skirmishers or sharpshooters.
[16] Nares quotes from Taylor's _Workes_, 1630:--"So horseman-ship
hath the trot, the amble, the _racke_, the pace, the false and wild
gallop, or the full speed," &c.
[17] Street bullies, such as are introduced in Nabbes' _Bride_,
Middleton and W. Rowley's _Fair Quarrel_, &c. The exploits of a "Roaring
Girl" are admirably set forth by Dekker and Middleton.
[18] The full form "God refuse me" occurs in Webster's _White Devil_
(ed. 1871, p. 7), where Dyce quotes from Taylor, the water poet: "Would
so many else in their desperate madnes desire God to Damne them, to
Renounce them, to Forsake them, to Confound them, to Sinke them, to
_Refuse_ them?" "_Against Cursing and Swearing_," _Works_, 1630.
[19] "The Saturday Night, some sixteen sail of the Hollanders, and about
ten White Hall Men (who in England are called Colliers) were commanded
to fight against the Castle of Punthal, standing three miles from Cadiz:
who did so accordingly; and discharged in that service, at the least,
1,600 shot." _Three to One_, &c. (Arber's _English Garner_, I. 626).
[20] Sc. companions: _Mids. Night's Dream_, III., i.; Shirley's
_Wedding_, k. v., &c.
[21] Middleton says somewhere (in A Fair Quarrel, I think):--
"The Infinity of Love
Holds no proportion with Arithmetick."
[22] To "look babies in the eyes" was a common expression for peering
amorously into the eyes.
[23] Sc. fagot.
[24] "Barleybreake" (the innocent sport so gracefully described in the
first book of the _Arcadia_) is often used in a wanton sense.
[25] A common form of expression. Everybody remembers Puck's--
"I'll put a girdle round about the earth
In forty minutes."
Cf. Chapman's _Bussy D'Ambois_, I. 1.--
"In tall ships, richly built and ribd with brasse,
To put a Girdle round about the world."
[26] Furnished with "bosses," which seem to have been the name for some
tinkling metal ornaments. Nares quotes from Sp. _Moth. Hub_. I. 582:--
"The mule all deck'd in goodly rich array,
With bells and bosses that full loudly rung."
[27] Cf. _Spanish Tragedy_, sc. vi.:--
"A man hanging and _tottering_ and _tottering_,
As you know the wind will wave a man."
(Quoted by Mr. Fleay in illustration of the "tottering colours" in _King
John_, v. 5, 7.)
[28] One is reminded of Shakespeare's--
"Had I _as many sons as I have hairs_,
I would not wish them to a fairer death."--_Macbeth_, v. 8.
[29] "That e'er o'erclouded," I should prefer.
[30] MS. _Exit_.
[31] Eringoes are often mentioned as a provocative by early writers:
_Merry Wives_, v. 5, &c.
[32] Sc. mallet.
[33] Sc. I lying in my _trundle-bed_.
[34] To "make ready" is to dress; so to "make unready" is to undress.
The expression was very common.
[35] A large salt-cellar was placed in the middle of the table: guests
of importance sat "above the salt," inferior guests below. Abundant
illustrations are given in Nares' Glossary.
[36] In Brand's _Popular Antiquities_ (Bohn's _Antiq. Libr_., II. 70-77)
there is an interesting article on "Groaning Cake and Cheese."
[37] A large coach: the derivation of the word is uncertain.
[38] The next word is illegible in the MS. We should have expected
"_Exeunt Fer., Man., & attendants_."
[39] Vid. vol. i. 307.
[40] The schoolmen's term for the confines of hell.
[41] I have followed the punctuation of the MS., though I am tempted to
read, "What to doe? pray with me?"
[42] A stage-direction for the next scene.
[43] Sc. bravadoes.
[44] The biting of the thumb is here a mark of vexation: to bite one's
thumb _at_ a person was considered an insult (_Rom. and Jul_., i. 1).
[45] A diminutive of "cock" (_Tempest_, ii. 1, &c.).
[46] The conceit is very common. Compare (one of many instances)
Dekker's _Match me in London_, iv. 1--
"You oft call Parliaments, and there enact
Lawes good and wholesome, such as who so breake
Are hung by the purse or necke, but as the weake
And smaller flyes i'th Spiders web are tane
When great ones teare the web, and free remain."
[47] The reading of the MS. is "snapsance," which is clearly wrong.
"Snaphance was the name for the spring-lock of a musket, and then for
the musket itself. It is said that the term was derived from the Dutch
_snap-haans_ (poultry stealers), a set of marauders who made use of it"
(_Lilly's Dramatic Works_, ed. Fairholt, II., 272). "Tarrier" must mean
"a person that causes delay": cf. a passage from Sir Thomas Overbury's
character of "a meene Petty fogger":--"He cannot erre before judgment,
and then you see it, only _writs of error_ are the _tariers_ that keepe
his client undoing somewhat the longer" (quoted in Todd's _Johnson_, sub
_tarrier_).
[48] "One being condemned to be shot to death for a rape: the maid [sic]
in favour of his life was content to beg him for her husband. Which
being condiscended unto by the Judge, _according to the lawe of Spaine
in that behalfe_: in steps me the hangman all in a chafe and said unto
the Judge. Howe (I pray you, sir) can that be, seeing the stake is
already in the ground, the rope, the arrowes, the Archers all in a
readines, and heere I am come for him." (Anthony Copley's _Wits, Fits,
and Fancies_, 1614, p. 120.) Here is another merry tale, with rather
more point in it, from the same collection:--"A fellow being to suffer,
a maide came to the gallowes to beg him for her husband, according as
the custome of _Spaine_ dispenceth in that case. The people seeing this
said unto the fellow: Now praise God that he hath thus mercifullie
preserv'd thee, and see thou ever make much of this kinde woman that so
friendly saves thy life. With that the Fellow viewing her and seeing a
great skarre in her face, which did greatlie disfigure her, a long nose,
thin lips and of a sowre complexion, hee said unto the Hangman: On (my
good friend) doe thy duty: Ile none of her." (p. 160.)
[49] Cf. _Rom. and Jul_., I., iii., 76, "Why, he's a man of wax," where
Dr. Ingleby (who has no doubt learnt better by this time) once took the
meaning to be, "a man of puberty, a proper man." Steevens happily
compared Horace's "_cerea_ Telephi brachia."
[50] The old spelling for "bawbles."
[51] "Slug. A ship which sails badly." Halliwell. I cannot recall
another instance of the use of the word in this sense.
[52] The "trundle-bed" (or "truckle-bed") was a low bed moving on
castors. In the day-time it was placed under the principal or "high"
bed: at night it was drawn out to the foot of the larger bed. Vid.
Nares, sub "truckle bed" and "trundle bed."
[53] The reading of the MS. is unintelligible. For _All_. I would read
_Alq_., and for "Law you?"--by a very slight change--"Love you?" (the
question being addressed to Henrico). Then what follows is intelligible.
[54] "Flay" is usually, if not always, written "flea" in old authors.
[55] MS. "For 3 hellish sins:" the word "For" is no doubt repeated from
_Fer_.
[56] The passage might be tortured into verse, somewhat as follows:--
"Nay but
Shall I not be acquainted with your designe?
When we must marry,
Faith, to save charges of two wedding dinners,
Lets cast so that one day may yield us bridegroome,--
I to the daughter, thou to the mother."
[57] We ought, no doubt, to read "professed,"--a trisyllable.
[58] An allusion is intended to the tailor's "hell,"--the hole under the
counter.
[59] _Vide_ note on Vol. I., p. 175.
[60] MS. tracning.
[61] In the MS. the stage direction has been altered to "Enter Sir
Gefferie & Bunche." The whole of the colloquy between Sucket and Crackby
is marked as if to be omitted. Doubtless this was one of the
"reformacons" made at the instance of the Master of the Revels.
[62] Such would seem to be the reading of the MS., but it is not
quite plain. I suspect that the true reading is "tripe-wives" (cf.
oysterwives, &c.).
[63] I.e., Besár las manos (hand-kissing).
[64] MS. "will."
[65] Perhaps we should rather read:--
"Fie, Sister;
'Tis a pretty gent[leman], I know you love him."
[66] The words "I faith" have been crossed out in the MS.--as being
irreverent.
[67] MS. "whom."
[68] Cf. _The Ladies Privilege_, i. 1. (Glapthorne's Works, ii. 99)--
"For my services
Pay me with pricelesse treasure of a kisse,
While from the balmy fountaynes of thy lips
Distils a moisture precious as the Dew
The amorous bounty of the morne
Casts on the Roses cheeke."
[69] In the MS. the word "witnes" has been crossed out and "vouchers"
substituted.
[70] The introductory part of this scene, up to the entrance of the
steward, had been omitted by the copyist and is added on the last leaf
of the play.
[71] In the margin we find the words "Well said, Mr. Steward: a good
observation."
[72] "Pride" has been crossed out in the MS.
[73] "What? does he plucke it out of his Codpeece? Yes, here lyes all
his affeccon."--Marginal note in MS.
[74] "A verrie politique drunkard"--"I think the barrell of Hedlebergs
in his bellye."--Marginal notes in MS.
[75] "Tis well his friends here to reconcile ... ... for assault and
battery elce."--the other words in the marginal note are illegible.
[76] "It were but cast away on such a beast as thou art." Marginal note.
[77] To "take in" is a common phrase for "to take by storm."
[78] Pappenheim fell at the battle of _Lützen_, November 16, 1632; but
there had been fighting at _Maestricht_ in the earlier part of the year.
[79] MS. pdue.
[80] The first reading was--"Hold, hold, good Captaine, tis our most
temperate Steward."
[81] 'Heere, here' is a correction (in the MS.) for 'what then?'
[82] MS. Trime.
[83] These words are crossed out in the MS.
[84] Therefore this play would seem to have been acted at the
Whitefriars, i.e. at the Salisbury Court theatre. (F.G. Fleay.)
[85] The "jig" seems to have been a comic after-piece consisting of
music and dancing. In Mr. Collier's _Hist. of Dram. Lit_., iii. 180-85
(new ed.), the reader will find much curious information on the point.
The following passage from Shirley's _Love in a Maze_ (1632) is not
noticed by Mr. Collier:--
"Many gentlemen
Are not, as in the days of understanding,
Now satisfied without a jig, which since
They cannot, with their honour, call for after
The Play, they look to be serv'd up in the middle:
Your dance is the best language of some comedies
And footing runs away with all; a scene
Express'd with life of art and squared to nature
Is dull and phlegmatic poetry."
--Works (ed. Gifford and Dyce), ii. 339.
[86] MS. him.
[87] The name of the musician, I suppose; but the reading of the MS. is
somewhat illegible.
[88] The passage at first ran as follows: "Umh, how long have I slept,
or am I buried and walke in Elizium as the poets faine? Goe to, where
are they? in the ayre? I can percieve nothing nor remember anything has
been don or said!"
[89] '_Grimes_. Soe, now retire a little. Ile play him one fitt of
mirthe on my trebble to rouse him. _Ext_.' These words occur in the
left-hand margin. Probably they should stand here in the text 'Ext.' may
mean either '_exeunt_' (musicians) or '_exit_' (_Grimes_ to disguise
himself).
[90] 'Who are these! ha! the towne waits? why, how now, my masters, whats
the matter, ha?'--Passage cancelled in MS.
[91] 'Bakside' is a correction (in the MS.) for 'buttock.'
[92] "Here Gent[lemen], share this amongst yee and pray for Grimes."
These words (addressed to the musicians) follow in the MS. but have been
scored through.
[93] The MS. gives "aurescion."
[94] The reading of the MS. seems to be "inuolute." Mr. Fleay suggests
"invocate."
[95] The repetition of 'loath' in the next line is suspicious.
[96] The arrangement of the verse is not easy: perhaps we should read--
'Wishes for husband.
A proper Gent[leman]; Ime happy
She has made so iuditious an election.'
Our author usually makes a trisyllable of "gentleman"; here it counts
only as a monosyllable.
[97] Between this word and the next there is a mark of omission in the
MS., and the words "t'were Sir" have been written above.
[98] What follows, to the entrance of _Thurston_, is marked to be
omitted. I have thought fit to restore it to the text. "Here's Mr.
_Thurston,"_ concludes Clariana's speech.
[99] Cf. a similar passage in Glapthorne's _Wit in a Constable_
(Works, I. 182):--
"a limber fellow,
Fit onely for deare _Nan_, his schoole-fellow,
A Grocer's daughter borne in _Bread-street_, with
Whom he has used to goe to _Pimblico_
And spend ten groats in cakes and Christian ale."
From Shirley we learn that the apprentices took their pleasure
in the mild form of treating their sweethearts to cream and
prunes:--
"You have some festivals, I confess, but when
They happen, you run wild to the next village,
Conspire a knot and club your groats apiece
For cream and prunes, not daring to be drunk."
(_Honoria and Mammon_, v. i.).
Pimlico seems to have been a place near Hoxton famous for its ales and
custards; cf. Mayne's _City Match_, II. 6.--
"Nay, captain, we have brought you
A gentleman of valour, who has been
In Moorfields often: marry it has been
To squire his sisters and demolish custards
At Pimlico."
There is an unique tract entitled "Pimlyco or Runne Red cap, 'tis a mad
world at Hoggesden," 1609.
[100] I cannot find that "bob" is used as a technical term in falconry.
Mr. Fleay suggests that a "bob'd hawke" merely means a "hawk cheated
of her prey." I rather think the meaning is a "hawk beaten or repulsed
by her prey."
[101] From "A Kalendar of the English Church," p. 45 (Rivingtons: n.d.,
but 1865), one learns that "Marriage is restrained by Law at the
following times unless with a License or Dispensation from the Bishop
of the Diocese, his Chancellor, or Commissary, viz., from Advent Sunday
until eight days after the Epiphany; from Septuagesima until eight days
after Easter; and from the Monday in Rogation week until Trinity
Sunday."
[102] I venture to insert the word "poet": both sense and metre are
defective without it.
[103] In the MS. "thee" is corrected into "you."
[104] Some words have been cut away.
[105] MS. throng.
[106] "_Thu_. And here she comes, I feare me"--crossed out in the MS.
[107] Here a line follows in the MS:--
"And verely she is much to blame in it."
It is crossed through, and rightly.
[108] "Puny" is not uncommonly spelt "puisne" (Fr. puisné) in old
authors.
[109] The metre requires "unman[ner]ly."
[110] MS. have.
[111] MS. puisants.
[112] The "Artillery Garden" was situated in Finsbury Fields, where also
was the place of exercise for the City Trained Bands. In the
"Antiquarian Repertory" (ed. 1807), i. 251-270, the reader will find an
interesting account of the Trained Bands and the Artillery Company. Old
writers are fond of sneering at the City warriors. The following passage
is from Shirley's "Witty Fair One," v. 1:--"There's a spruce captain
newly crept out of a gentleman-usher and shuffled into a buff jerkin
with gold lace, that never saw service beyond Finsbury or the
Artillery-Garden, marches wearing a desperate feather in his lady's
beaver, while a poor soldier, bred up in the school of war all his life,
yet never commenced any degree of commander, wants a piece of brass to
discharge a wheaten bullet to his belly."
[113] _"Vinum muscatum quod moschi odorem referat, propter dulcedinem_,
for the sweetnesse and smell it resembles muske," &c_. Minsheu's _Guide
into Tongues_ (apud Dyce's _Glossary_).
[114] "Mooncalf" (originally the name for an imperfectly formed foetus)
was used as a term of reproach, like dodypol, nincompoop, ninny,
dunderhead, &c.
[115] _Sc_. trifling fellow, noodle.
[116] The blades from Bilboa in Spain were esteem'd as highly as those
of Toledo manufacture.
[117] MS. two.
[118] "Striker" is a cant term for a losel, a wencher.
[119] "Mew" is a falconer's term for the place where a hawk is confined.
[120] This passage is repeated in _The Ladies Privilege_, at the end of