_Car_. You shall not dare to touch him, stood he here Single before thee.
_Bal_. I’le cut the Rat into Anchovies.
_Car_. I’le make thee kisse his hand, imbrace him, love him, And call him–
(_Medina discovers_)
_Bal_. The perfection of all Spanyards; Mars in little; the best booke of the art of Warre printed in these Times: as a French Doctor I woo’d have given you pellets for pills, but as my noblest Lord rip my heart out in your service.
_Med_. Thou art the truest Clocke
That e’re to time paidst tribute, honest Souldier. I lost mine owne shape and put on a French Onely to try thy truth and the kings falshood, Both which I find. Now this great Spanish volume Is open’d to me, I read him o’re and o’re, Oh what blacke Characters are printed in him!
_Car_. Nothing but certaine ruine threat your Neece, Without prevention; well this plot was laid In such disguise to sound him; they that know How to meet dangers are the lesse afraid: Yet let me counsell you not to text downe These wrongs in red lines.
_Med_. No, I will not, father:
Now that I have Anatomiz’d his thoughts I’le read a lecture on ’em that shall save Many mens lives, and to the kingdome Minister Most wholesome Surgery: here’s our Aphorisme,[213]– These letters from us in our Neeces name, You know, treat of a marriage.
_Car_. There’s the strong Anchor
To stay all in this tempest.
_Med_. Holy Sir,
With these worke you the King and so prevaile That all these mischiefes _Hull_ with Flagging saile.
_Car_. My best in this I’le doe.
_Med_. Souldier, thy brest
I must locke better things in.
_Bal_. Tis your chest with 3 good keyes to keep it from opening, an honest hart, a daring hand and a pocket which scornes money.
[_Exeunt_.
_Actus Quintus_.
SCAENA PRIMA.
_Enter King, Cardinall with letters_, [_Valasco and Lopez_.]
_King_. Commend us to _Medina_, say his letters Right pleasing are, and that (except himselfe) Nothing could be more welcome: counsell him (To blot the opinion out of factious numbers) Onely to have his ordinary traine
Waiting upon him; for, to quit all feares Vpon his side of us, our very Court
Shall even but dimly shine with some few Dons, Freely to prove our longings great to peace.
_Car_. The Constable expects some pawne from you That in this Fairy circle shall rise up
No Fury to confound his Neece nor him.
_King_. A King’s word is engag’d.
_Car_. It shall be taken. [_Exit_.
_King_. _Valasco_, call the Captaine of our Guard, Bid him attend us instantly.
_Val_. I shall. [_Exit_.
_King_. _Lopez_, come hither: see
Letters from _Duke Medina_, both in the name Of him and all his Faction, offering peace, And our old love (his Neece) _Onaelia_
In Marriage with her free and faire consent To _Cockadillio_, a Don of Spaine.
_Lop_. Will you refuse this?
_King_. My Crowne as soone: they feele their sinowy plots Belike to shrinke i’th joynts, and fearing Ruine Have found this Cement out to piece up all, Which more endangers all.
_Lop_. How, Sir! endangers?
_King_. Lyons may hunted be into the snare, But if they once breake loose woe be to him That first seiz’d on ’em. A poore prisoner scornes To kisse his Jaylor; and shall a King be choak’d With sweete-meats by false Traytors! no, I will fawne On them as they stroake me, till they are fast But in this paw, and then–
_Lop_. A brave revenge.–
The Captaine of your Guard.
_Enter Captaine_.
_King_. Vpon thy life
Double our Guard this day, let every man Beare a charg’d Pistoll hid; and at a watch-word Given by a Musket, when our selfe sees Time, Rush in; and if _Medina’s_ Faction wrastle Against your forces, kill; but if yeeld, save. Be secret.
_Alanz_. I am charm’d, Sir.
[_Exit_.
_King_. Watch, _Valasco_;
If any weare a Crosse, Feather or Glove Or such prodigious signes of a knit Faction, Table their names up; at our Court-gate plant Good strength to barre them out if once they swarme: Doe this upon thy life.
_Val_. Not death shall fright me.
[_Exeunt Valasco and Lopez_.
_Enter Baltazar_.
_Bal_. ‘Tis done, Sir.
_King_. Death! what’s done?
_Bal_. Young Cub’s flayd,
But the shee-fox shifting her hole is fled; The little Iackanapes the boy’s braind.
_King_. _Sebastian_?
_Bal_. He shall ne’re speake more Spanish.
_King_. Thou teachest me to curse thee.
_Bal_. For a bargaine you set your hand to?
_King_. Halfe my Crowne I’de lose were it undone.
_Bal_. But half a Crowne? that’s nothing: His braines sticke in my conscience more than yours.
_King_. How lost I the French Doctor?
_Bal_. As French-men lose their haire: here was too hot staying for him.
_King_. Get thou, too, from my sight: the Queen wu’d see thee.
_Bal_. Your gold, Sir.
_King_. Goe with _Judas_ and repent.
_Bal_. So men hate whores after lusts heat is spent; I’me gone, Sir.
_King_. Tell me true,–is he dead?
_Bal_. Dead.
_King_. No matter; ’tis but morning of revenge; The Sun-set shall be red and Tragicall. [_Exit_.
_Bal_. Sinne is a Raven croaking[214] her owne fall. [_Exit_.
(SCENE 2.)
_Enter Medina, Daenia, Alba, Carlo and the Faction, with Rosemary in their hats_.
_Med_. Keepe lock’d the doore and let none enter to us But who shares in our fortunes.
_Daen_. Locke the dores.
_Alb_. What entertainment did the King bestow Vpon your letters and the Cardinals?
_Med_. With a devouring eye he read ’em o’re Swallowing our offers into his empty bosome As gladly as the parched earth drinks healths Out of the cup of heaven.
_Carl_. Little suspecting
What dangers closely lye enambushed.
_Daen_. Let not us trust to that; there’s in his brest Both Fox and Lion, and both those beasts can bite: We must not now behold the narrowest loope-hole But presently suspect a winged bullet
Flyes whizzing by our eares.
_Med_. For when I let
The plummet fall to sound his very soule In his close-chamber, being French-Doctor-like, He to the Cardinals eare sung sorcerous notes; The burthen of his song to mine was death, _Onaelia’s_ murder and _Sebastians_.
And thinke you his voyce alters now? ‘Tis strange To see how brave this Tyrant shewes in Court, Throan’d like a god: great men are petty starres Where his rayes shine; wonder fills up all eyes By sight of him: let him but once checke sinne, About him round all cry “oh excellent king! Oh Saint-like man!” but let this King retire Into his Closet to put off his robes,
He like a Player leaves his parte off, too: Open his brest and with a Sunne-beame search it, There’s no such man; this King of gilded clay Within is uglinesse, lust, treachery,
And a base soule tho reard Colossus-high.
(_Baltazar beats to come in_.)
_Daen_. None till he speakes and that we know his voyce: Who are you?
_Within Bal_. An honest house-keeper in Rosemary-lane, too, If you dwell in the same parish.
_Med_. Oh ’tis our honest Souldier, give him entrance.
_Enter Baltazar_.
_Bal_. Men show like coarses[215] for I meet few but are stuck with Rosemary: everyone ask’d mee who was married to-day, and I told ’em Adultery and Repentance, and that shame and a Hangman followed ’em to Church.
_Med_. There’s but two parts to play: shame has done hers But execution must close up the Scaene,
And for that cause these sprigs are worne by all, Badges of Mariage, now of Funerall,
For death this day turns Courtier.
_Bal_. Who must dance with him?
_Med_. The King, and all that are our opposites; That dart or this must flye into the Court, Either to shoote this blazing starre from Spaine Or else so long to wrap him up in clouds Till all the fatall fires in him burne out, Leaving his State and conscience cleere from doubt Of following uprores.
_Alb_. Kill not but surprize him.
_Carl_. Thats my voyce still.
_Med_. Thine, Souldier.
_Bal_. Oh, this Collicke of a kingdome! when the wind of treason gets amongst the small guts, what a rumbling and a roaring it keepes! and yet, make the best of it you can, it goes out stinking. Kill a King! King!
_Daen_. Why?
_Bal_. If men should pull the Sun out of heaven every time ’tis ecclips’d, not all the Wax nor Tallow in Spaine woo’d serve to make us Candles for one yeare.
_Med_. No way to purge the sicke State but by opening a veine.
_Bal_. Is that your French Physicke? if every one of us shoo’d be whip’d according to our faults, to be lasht at a carts taile would be held but a flea-biting.
_Enter Signeor No:[216] Whispers Medina_.
_Med_. What are you? come you from the King?
_No_. No.
_Bal_. No? more no’s? I know him, let him enter.
_Med_. Signeor, I thanke your kind Intelligence. The newes long since was sent into our eares, Yet we embrace your love; so fare you well.
_Carl_. Will you smell to a sprig of Rosemary?
_No_. No.
_Bal_. Will you be hang’d?
_No_. No.
_Bal_. This is either Signeor No, or no Signeor.
_Med_. He makes his love to us a warning-peece To arme our selves against we come to Court, Because the guard is doubled.
_Omnes_. Tush, we care not.
_Bal_. If any here armes his hand to cut off the head, let him first plucke out my throat. In any Noble Act Ile wade chin-deepe with you: but to kill a King!
_Med_. No, heare me–
_Bal_. You were better, my Lord, saile 500 times to _Bantam_[217] in the West-Indies than once to _Barathrum_ in the Low-Countries. It’s hot going under the line there; the Callenture of the soule is a most miserable madnesse.
_Med_. Turne, then, this wheele of Fate from shedding blood, Till with her owne hand Iustice weyes all.
_Bal_. Good.
[_Exeunt_.
(SCENE 3.)
_Queen_. Must then his Trul be once more sphear’d in Court To triumph in my spoyles, in my ecclipses? And I like moaping _Iuno_ sit whilst _Iove_ Varies his lust into five hundred shapes To steale to his whores bed? No, _Malateste_; Italian fires of Iealousie burn my marrow: For to delude my hopes the leacherous King Cuts out this robe of cunning marriage
To cover his Incontinence, which flames Hot (as my fury) in his black desires.
I am swolne big with child of vengeance now, And, till deliver’d, feele the throws of hell.
_Mal_. Iust is your Indignation, high and noble, And the brave heat of a true Florentine. For Spaine Trumpets abroad her Interest
In the Kings heart, and with a black cole drawes On every wall your scoff’d at injuries.
As one that has the refuse of her sheets, And the sick Autumne of the weakned King, Where she drunke pleasures up in the full spring.
_Queen_. That, _Malateste_, That, That Torrent wracks me; But _Hymens_ Torch (held downe-ward) shall drop out, And for it the mad Furies swing their brands About the Bride-chamber.
_Mal_. The Priest that joyns them
Our Twin-borne malediction.
_Queen_. Lowd may it speake.
_Mal_. The herbs and flowers to strew the wedding way Be Cypresse, Eugh, cold Colloquintida.
_Queen_. Henbane and Poppey, and that magicall weed[218] Which Hags at midnight watch to catch the seed.
_Mal_. To these our execrations, and what mischiefe Hell can but hatch in a distracted braine Ile be the Executioner, tho it looke
So horrid it can fright e’ne murder backe.
_Queen_. Poyson his whore to day, for thou shalt wait On the Kings Cup, and when, heated with wine, He cals to drinke the Brides health, Marry her Alive to a gaping grave.
_Mal_. At board?
_Queen_. At board.
_Mal_. When she being guarded round about with friends, Like a faire Iland hem’d with Rocks and Seas,– What rescue shall I find?
_Queen_. Mine armes? dost faint?
Stood all the Pyrenaean hills, that part Spaine and our Country, on each others shoulders, Burning with Aetnean flame, yet thou shouldst on, As being my steele of resolution
First striking sparkles from my flinty brest. Wert thou to catch the horses of the Sunne Fast by their bridles and to turne back day, Wood’st thou not doo’t (base coward) to make way To the Italians second blisse, revenge?
_Mal_. Were my bones threatned to the wheele of torture, Ile doo’t.
_Enter Lopes_.
_Queen_. A ravens voyce, and it likes me well.
_Lop_. The King expects your presence.
_Mal_. So, so, we come,
To turne this Brides day to a day of doome.
[_Exeunt_.
(SCENE 4.)
_A Banquet set out, Cornets sounding; Enter at one dore Lopez, Valasco, Alanzo, No: after them King, Cardinall, with Don Cockadillio, Bridegroome; Queene and Malateste after. At the other dore Alba, Carlo, Roderigo, Medina and Daenia, leading Onaelia as Bride, Cornego and Iuanna after; Baltazar alone; Bride and Bridegroome kisse, and by the Cardinall are join’d hand in hand: King is very merry, hugging Medina very lovingly_.
_King_. For halfe Spaines weight in Ingots I’de not lose This little man to day.
_Med_. Nor for so much
Twice told, Sir, would I misse your kingly presence, Mine eyes have lost th’acquaintance of your face So long, and I so little late read o’re
That Index of the royall book your mind, That scarce (without your Comment) can I tell When in those leaves you turne o’re smiles or frownes.
_King_. ‘Tis dimnesse of your sight, no fault i’th letter; _Medina_, you shall find that free from Errata’s: And for a proofe,
If I could breath my heart in welcomes forth, This Hall should ring naught else. Welcome, _Medina_; Good Marquesse _Daenia_, Dons of Spaine all welcome! My dearest love and Queene, be it your place To entertaine the Bride and doe her grace.
_Queen_. With all the love I can, whose fire is such, To give her heat, I cannot burne too much.
_King_. Contracted Bride and Bridegroome sit; Sweet flowres not pluck’d in season lose their scent, So will our pleasures. Father Cardinall, Methinkes this morning new begins our reigne.
_Car_. Peace had her Sabbath ne’re till now in Spaine.
_King_. Where is our noble Souldier, _Baltazar_? So close in conference with that Signior?
_No_. No.
_King_. What think’st thou of this great day _Baltazar_?
_Bal_. Of this day? why, as of a new play, if it ends well all’s well. All men are but Actors; now if you, being the King, should be out of your part, or the Queene out of hers or your Dons out of theirs, here’s No wil never be out of his.
_No_. No.
_Bal_. ‘Twere a lamentable peece of stuffe to see great Statesmen have vile Exits; but I hope there are nothing but plaudities in all your Eyes.
_King_. Mine, I protest, are free.
_Queen_. And mine, by heaven!
_Mal_. Free from one goode looke till the blow be given.
_King_. Wine; a full Cup crown’d to _Medina’s_ health!
_Med_. Your Highnesse this day so much honors me That I, to pay you what I truly owe,
My life shall venture for it.
_Daen_. So shall mine.
_King_. _Onaelia_, you are sad: why frownes your brow?
_Onae_. A foolish memory of my past ills Folds up my looke in furrowes of old care, But my heart’s merry, Sir.
_King_. Which mirth to heighten
Your Bridegroome and your selfe first pledge this health Which we begin to our high Constable.
(_Three Cups fild: 1 to the King, 2 to the Bridegroome, 3 to Onaelia, with whom the King complements_.)
_Queen_. Is’t speeding?
_Mal_. As all our Spanish figs[219] are.
_King_. Here’s to _Medina’s_ heart with all my heart.
_Med_. My hart shal pledge your hart i’th deepest draught That ever Spanyard dranke.
_King_. _Medina_ mockes me
Because I wrong her with the largest Bowle: Ile change with thee, _Onaelia_.
(_Mal. rages_)
_Queen_. Sir, you shall not.
_King_. Feare you I cannot fetch it off?
_Queen_. _Malateste_!
_King_. This is your scorne to her, because I am doing This poorest honour to her.–Musicke sound! It goes were it ten fadoms to the ground.
_Cornets. King drinkes; Queen and Mal. storms_.
_Mal_. Fate strikes with the wrong weapon.
_Queen_. Sweet royall Sir, no more: it is too deepe.
_Mal_. Twill hurt your health, Sir.
_King_. Interrupt me in my drinke! ’tis off.
_Mal_. Alas, Sir,
You have drunke your last: that poyson’d bowle I fill’d, Not to be put into your hand but hers.
_King_. Poyson’d?
_Omnes_. Descend black speckled soule to hell. (_kil Mal. dyes_.)
_Mal_. The Queene has sent me thither?
_Card_. What new furie shakes now her snakes locks?
_Queen_. I, I, tis I,
Whose soule is torne in peeces till I send This Harlot home.
_Car_. More Murders? save the lady.
_Balt_. Rampant? let the Constable make a mittimus.
_Med_. Keepe ’em asunder.
_Car_. How is it royall sonne?
_King_. I feele no poyson yet; only mine eyes Are putting out their lights: me thinks I feele Deaths Icy fingers stroking downe my face; And now I’me in a mortall cold sweat.
_Queen_. Deare my Lord.
_King_. Hence! call in my Physicians.
_Med_. Thy Physician, Tyrant,
Dwels yonder: call on him or none.
_King_. Bloody _Medina_! stab’st thou, _Brutus_, too?
_Daen_. As hee is so are we all.
_King_. I burne;
My braines boyle in a Caldron: O, one drop Of water now to coole me!
_Onae_. Oh, let him have Physicians!
_Med_. Keepe her backe.
_King_. Physicians for my soule: I need none else. You’ll not deny me those? Oh, holy Father, Is there no mercy hovering in a cloud
For me, a miserable King, so drench’d In perjury and murder?
_Car_. Oh, Sir, great store.
_King_. Come downe, come quickly downe.
_Car_. I’ll forthwith send
For a grave Fryer to be your Confessor.
_King_. Doe, doe.
_Car_. And he shall cure your wounded soule: –Fetch him, good Souldier.
_Bal_. So good a work I’le hasten.
_King_. _Onaelia_! oh, shee’s drown’d in tears. _Onaelia_! Let me not dye unpardoned at thy hands.
_Enter Baltazar, Sebastian as a Fryer, with others_.
_Car_. Here comes a better Surgeon.
_Seb_. Haile my good Sonne!
I come to be thy ghostly Father.
_King_. Ha!
My child? tis my _Sebastian_, or some spirit Sent in his shape to fright me.
_Bal_. ‘Tis no gobling, Sir, feele: your owne flesh and blood, and much younger than you tho he be bald, and calls you son. Had I bin as ready to cut his sheeps throat as you were to send him to the shambles, he had bleated no more. There’s lesse chalke upon you[r] score of sinnes by these round o’es.
_King_. Oh, my dul soule, looke up; thou art somewhat lighter. Noble _Medina_, see, _Sebastian_ lives:
_Onaelia_, cease to weepe, _Sebastian_ lives. Fetch me my Crowne: my sweetest pretty Fryer, Can my hands doo’t, He raise thee one step higher. Th’ast beene in heavens house all this while, sweet boy?
_Seb_. I had but coarse cheere.
_King_. Thou couldst nere fare better: Religious houses are those hyves where Bees Make honey for mens soules. I tell thee, Boy, A Fryery is a Cube which strongly stands, Fashioned by men, supported by heavens hands: Orders of holy Priest-hood are as high,
I’th eyes of Angels, as a Kings dignity. Both these unto a Crowne give the full weight, And both are thine: you that our Contract know, See how I scale it with this Marriage;
My blessing and Spaines kingdome both be thine.
_Omnes_. Long live _Sebastian_!
_Onae_. Doff that Fryers course gray, And since hee’s crown’d a king, clothe him like one.
_King_. Oh no; those are right Soveraigne Ornaments: Had I been cloth’d so I had never fill’d Spaine’s Chronicle with my blacke Calumny. My worke is almost finish’d: where’s my Queene?
_Queen_. Heere, peece-meale torne by Furies.
_King_. _Onaelia_!
Your hand, _Paulina_, too; _Onaelia_, yours: This hand (the pledge of my twice broken faith), By you usurp’d, is her Inheritance.
My love is turn’d, see, as my fate is turn’d: Thus they to day laugh, yesterday which mourn’d: I pardon thee my death. Let her be sent
Backe into Florence with a trebled dowry. Death comes: oh, now I see what late I fear’d; A Contract broke, tho piec’d up ne’re so well, Heaven sees, earth suffers, but it ends in hell. (_Moritur_.)
_Onae_. Oh, I could dye with him!
_Queen_. Since the bright spheare
I mov’d in falls, alas, what make I here? [_Exit_.
_Med_. The hammers of blacke mischiefe now cease beating, Yet some irons still are heating. You, Sir Bridegroome, (Set all this while up as a marke to shoot at) We here discharge you of your bed fellow: She loves no Barbars washing.
_Cock_. My Balls are sav’d then.
_Med_. Be it your charge, so please you, reverend Sir, To see the late Queene safely sent to Florence: My Neece _Onaelia_, and that trusty Souldier, We doe appoint to guard the infant King. Other distractions Time must reconcile;
The State is poyson’d like a Crocodile.
[_Exeunt_.
FINIS.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The title, I suppose, of “Cuckold.”
[2] Tacitus in a few words gives a most masterly description of Poppea: –“Huic mulieri cuncta alia fuere praeter honestum animum: quippe mater eius, aetatis suae feminas pulchritudine supergressa, gloriam pariter et formam dederat: opes claritudini generis sufficiebant: sermo comis, nec absurdum ingenium: modestiam praeferre et lascivia uti: rarus in publicum egressus, idque velata parte oris, ne satiaret aspectum, vel quia sic decebat. Famae numquam pepercit, maritos et adulteros non distinguens, neque affectui suo aut alieno obnoxia: unde utilitas ostenderetur, illuc libidinem transtulit.”–Ann. XIII. 45.
[3] 4to. Why? Is he rais’d.
[4] Cf. Dion Cassius, [Greek: X G] 20.
[5] 4to. cleare th’ayre.
[6] “Push” and “pish” are used indifferently by Elizabethan writers.
[7] Cf. Verg. Aen. vi. 805-6:–
“Nec qui pampineis victor iuga flectit habenis, Liber, agens celso Nysae de vertice tigres.”
[8] 4to. Turpuus. (Vid. Sueton. Vit. Ner. 20.)
[9] Tacitus (Ann. xvi. 14) mentions an astrologer of this name, who was banished by Nero.
[10] Vid. Sueton. Vit. Ner. 25.
[11] 4tos. _Servinus_.
[12] Tacit. Ann. xv. 49.
[13] By those “wicked armes” is meant, I suppose, the struggle between Caesar and Pompey. Posterity will think the horrors of civil war compensated by the pleasure of reading Lucan’s epic!
[14] 4tos. Ciria.
[15] 4tos. beeds.
[16] 4tos. begins.
[17] A certain Volusius Proculus was one of the infamous agents in the murder of Agrippina, and afterwards betrayed the fearless woman Epicharis who confided to him the secret of Piso’s conspiracy; but no one of this name was executed by Nero.
[18] Quy. How! bruised, &c.
[19] Quy. Say that I had no skill!–If the reading of the 4tos. is right the meaning must be, “As for his saying that I had no skill.”
[20] A copy of the 1633 4to. gives “shoulder-eac’t,” which is hardly less intelligible than the reading in the text. Everybody knows that Pelops received an ivory shoulder for the one that was consumed; but the word “shoulder-packt” conveys no meaning. “Shoulder-pieced,” i.e., “fitted with an (ivory) shoulder,” would be a shade more intelligible; but it is a very ugly compound.
[21] Dion Cassius ([Greek: XB]. 14. ed. Bekker) reports this brutal gibe of Nero’s; Rubellius Plautus was the luckless victim:–[Greek: “ho de dae Neron kai gelota kai skommata, ta ton syngenon kaka hepoieito ton goun Plauton apokteinas, hepeita taen kephalaen autou prosenechtheisan oi idon, ‘ouk haedein,’ hephae ‘oti megalaen rina eichen,’ osper pheisamenos an autou ei touto proaepistato.”]
[22] Persius’ tutor, immortalised in his pupil’s Fifth Satire.
[23] Quy. with.
[24] _Machlaean_–a word coined from [Greek: machlos] (sc. libidinosus).
[25] Partly a translation from Persius, Sat. I. 11. 99-102:–
“Torva Mimalloneis implerunt cornua bombis, Et raptum vitulo caput ablatura superbo Bassaris, et lyncem Maenas flexura corymbis Euion ingeminat: reparabilis assonat Echo”;
which lines are supposed to be a parody of some verses of Nero. Persius’ comment–
“summa delumbe saliva Hoc natat: in labris et in udo est Maenas et Attis; Nec pluteum caedit, nec demorsos sapit ungues”–
agrees with the judgment of Tacitus (Ann. xiv. 16). Suetonius (Vit. Ner. 52), who had seen some of Nero’s MSS., speaks of the extreme care that had been given to correction; and the few verses preserved by Seneca make against the estimate of Tacitus and Persius.
[26] 4tos. Ennion.
[27] Vid. Dion Cassius [Greek: XB]. 29.
[28] 4tos. conductors.
[29] 4tos. again.
[30] Cf. Tacitus, Ann. xv. 48.
[31] The 4to. points the passage thus:–
“The thing determinde on our meeting now, Is of the meanes, and place, due circumstance, As to the doing of things t’is requir’d, So done, it names the action.”
The words “t’is requir’d … action,” I take to mean, “The assassination must be accomplished in such a way as to appear an act of patriotism and make the actors famous.”
[32] Cf. Tacitus, Ann. xv. 52
[33] Cf. Sueton. Vit. Ner. 49:–“Mirum et vel praecipue notabile inter haec fuerit, nihil eum patientius quam maledicta et convitia hominum tulisse, neque in ullos lemorem quam qui se dictis aut carminibus lucessissent exstitisse. Multa Graece Latineque proscripta aut vulgata sunt, sicut illa:–
* * * * *
_Roma domus fiet: Veios migrate Quirites, Si non et Veios occupat ista domus_.”
[34] 4tos. _Servi_.
[35] 4tos. Servinus.
[36] Cf. Tac. Ann. xvi. 5; and Sueton. Vit Ner. 23.
[37] 4to. time.
[38] Cf. Sueton. Vit. Ner. 23. “Itaque et enixae quaedam in spectaculis dicuntur, et multi taedio audiendi laudandique, clausis oppidorum portis, aut furtim desiluisse de muro aut morte simulata funere elati.”
[39] 4tos. And.
[40] The 4tos. give “_Agrippa_,” which is nonsense. By a slip of the tongue, Nero was going to say “Agrippina’s death,” when he hastily corrected himself. Tacitus and Suetonius tell us that Nero was always haunted with the memory of his murdered mother.
[41] Cf. Tacitus, Ann. xvi. 5. “Ferebantque Vespasianum, tamquam somno conniveret, a Phoebo liberto increpitum aegreque meliorum precibus obtectum, mox imminentem perniciem maiore fato effugisse.”
[42] 4tos. _Ile_.
[43] 4to. 1624. innocents.
[44] Cf. Tacitus, Ann. xvi. 4.
[45] 4to. I’d.
[46] 4to. 1624. Aegamemnon.
[47] This magnificent speech is quoted in Charles Lamb’s _Specimens_.
[48] 4tos. I’d.
[49] “Nec quisquam defendere audebat, crebris multorum minis restinguere prohibentium, et quia alii palam faces iaciebant atque esse sibi auctorem vociferabantur, sive ut raptus licentius exercerent, seu jussu.”–Tac. Ann. xv. 37.
[50] The simile is from Vergil, Aen. ii. 304-308–
“In segetem veluti quum flamma furentibus Austris Incidit; aut rapidus montano flumine torrens Sternit agros, sternit sata laeta boumque labores, Praecipitesque trahit silvas: stupet inscius alto Accipiens sonitum saxi de vertice pastor.”
[51] The author may have had in his mind a passage in Dion Cassius’ description of the fire:–[Greek: thorybos te oun exaisios pantachou pantas katelambanen, kai dietrichon ohi men tae ohi de tae hosper emplaektoi, kai allois tines epamynontes epynthanonto ta oikoi kaiomena kai heteroi prin kai akousai hoti ton spheteron ti empepraestai,
emanthanon, hoti apololen. XB. 16].
[52] 4tos. _Cannos_.
[53] 4tos. _Allius_.
[54] The 4tos. give “thee gets.” I feel confident that my emendation restores the true reading.
[55] The reading of the 4tos. is the, “The most condemned,” &c. A tribe named the “Moschi” (of whom mention is made in Herodotus) dwelt a little to the south of the Colchians.
[56] So the 4tos. “Low hate” is nonsense. “_Long_ and native hate” would be spiritless; while “_bow and arrow laid_ apart” involves far too violent a change. I reluctantly give the passage up.
[57] I suppose that the sentence is left unfinished; but perhaps it is more likely that the text is corrupt.
[58] Quy. I now command the _Souldiery i’the Citie_.
[59] Sc. descendants. Vid. Nares, s.v.
[60] Cf. Tacitus, Ann. xv. 53.
[61] 4tos. losse.
[62] 4tos. soft.
[63] Quy. they.–The passage, despite its obscurity of expression, seems to me intelligible; but I dare not venture to paraphrase it.
[64] 4tos. are we.
[65] “Call me cut” meant commonly nothing more than Falstaff’s “call me horse”; but as applied to Sporus the term “cutt-boy” was literally correct. For what follows in the text cf. Sueton. Vit. Ner. cap. 28.
[66] 4to. Subius, Flavius.
[67] Quy. “I, [sc. aye] to himselfe; ‘twould make the matter cleare,” &c.
[68] 4tos. _Gallii_. Our author is imitating Juvenal (Sat. x. ll. 99-102):–
“Huius qui trahitur praetextam sumere mavis, An Fidenarum Gabiorumque esse potestas Et de mensura ius dicere, vasa minora
Frangere, pannosus vacuis Aedilis Ulubris?”
[69] Cf. Tacitus, Annals, xv. 59.
[70] 4tos. refuge.
[71] Quy. _Euphrates_.
[72] According to Tacitus, Piso retired to his house and there opened his veins. Vid. Ann. xv. 59.
[73] Cf. Shakespeare, “Make mad the guilty and appal the free.” Hamlet, II. 2.
[74] So the 4tos; but Quy.
“The Emperour’s much pleas’d
_That_ some have named _Seneca_.”
[75] Cf. Tacitus, Ann. xv. 45; Sueton. Vit. Ner. 32.
[76] In Tacitus’ account (Ann. xv. 67) the climax is curious:– “‘Oderam te,’ inquit; ‘nec quisquam tibi fidelior militum fuit dum amari meruisti: odisse coepi, postquam parricida matris et uxoris, auriga et histrio et incendiarius extitisti.'”
[77] The verses would run better thus:–
“A feeling one; _Tigellinus_, bee’t thy charge, And let me see thee witty in’t.
_Tigell_. Come, sirrah;
Weele see.” &c.
[78] Quy. was oreheard to say.
[79] 4tos. your.
[80] Quy. even skies.
[81] Quy. I’the firmament.
[82] 4tos. loath by.
[83] Martial, in a clever but coarse epigram (lib. xi. 56), ridicules the Stoic’s contempt of death:–
“Hanc tibi virtutem fracta facit urceus ansa, Et tristis nullo qui tepet igne focus, Et teges et cimex et nudi sponda grabati, Et brevis atque eadem nocte dieque toga. O quam magnus homo es, qui faece rubentis aceti Et stipula et nigro pane carere potes. * * * * *
Rebus in angustis facile est contemnere vitam: Fortiter ille facit qui miser esse potest.”
[84] Cf. Juv. Sat. v. 36, 37:–
“Quale coronati Thrasea Helvidiusque bibebant, Brutorum et Cassi natalibus.”
The younger Pliny (Ep. iii. 7) relates that Eilius Italicus religiously observed Vergil’s birthday.
[85] The 4tos. punctuate thus:–
“Here faire _Enanthe_, whose plumpe ruddy cheeke Exceeds the grape, it makes this; here my geyrle.”
Petronius is speaking hurriedly. He begins to answer _Enanthe’s_ question: “it makes this” (i.e. “means this”), he says, but breaks off his explanation, and pledges his mistress.
[86] 4tos. walles.
[87] 4tos. Ith.
[88] “Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum.” Horat. Epist. i. 17, 36 ([Greek: ou pantos andros es Korinthon esth’ ho plous]).
[89] Quy. Th’old _Anicean_ (sc. Anacreon).
[90] A paraphrase of Horace’s well-known lines:
“Linquenda tellus, et domus, et placens Uxor; neque harum, quas colis, arborum, Te, praeter invisas cupressos,
Ulla brevem dominum sequeter.”
–Odes, ii. 14, ll. 21-29.
[91] 4to. your.
[92] 4tos. thy.
[93] Cf. Horace, Od. i. 12, ll. 37, 38:–
“Regulum, et Scauros _animaeque magnae Prodigum_ Paulum.”
[94] Vid. Tacitus, Ann. xi. 11; Sueton. Vit. Ner. 6.
[95] 4tos. have.
[96] 4tos. night.
[97] The punning on the fairies’ names recalls Bottom’s pleasantries (M.N.D. iii. 1), and the resemblance is certainly too close to be accidental.
[98] “Uncoth” here = wild, unfrequented; Cf. _As You Like It_, ii. 6, “If this _uncouth_ forest yield anything savage,” &c.
[99] A “Hunts up” was a hunting song, a reveillee, to rouse the hunters. An example of a “_Hunts up_” may be found, set to music by J. Bennet, in a collection of Ravenscroft, 1614.
[100] Quy. “kind;” but our author is not very particular about his rhymes.
[101] “Rascal” was the regular name for a lean deer (_As You like It_, iii. 3, &c.).
[102] The whole scene is printed as verse in the 4to.
[103] This very uncommon word (French: legerete) occurs in _Henry V_. (iv. i. l. 23).
[104] More commonly written “cote,” a cottage.
[105] To “draw dry foot” meant to follow by the scent. (_Com. of Errors_, iv. 2.)
[106] No doubt the writer had in his mind the description of “Morpheus house” in the _Faerie Queene_ (Book i., Canto I).
[107] “Whisht” (more commonly “whist”) = hushed, stilled. Cf. Milton, _Ode on the Nativity_:–
“The winds with wonder _whist_
Smoothly the waters kist.”
[108] “Plancher” (Fr. planche) = a plank. Cf. _Arden of Feversham_, I. i. “Whilst on the _planchers_ pants his weary body,” Shakespeare (_Measure for Measure_, iv. 1) has “a _planched_ gate.”
[109] “Incontinent” = immediately. The expression is very common (_Richard II_., v. 6, &c.).
[110] These verses and Frisco’s “Can you blow the little horne”? are evidently fragments of Old Ballads–to be recovered, let us hope, hereafter.
[111] These four lines are from the old ballad of _Fortune my foe_, which will be found printed entire in the _Bagford Ballads_ (Ed. J.W. Ebsworth, part iv. pp. 962-3); the music is given in Mr. W. Chappell’s _Popular Music of the Olden Time_, I. 162. Mr. Ebsworth writes me:– “I have ascertained (assuredly) that what I at first thought to be a reference to ‘Fortune my foe’ in the Stationers’ Registers, 1565-66, entered to John Charlewood (_Arber’s Transcripts_, l. 310), as ‘of one complaining of ye mutabilitie of Fortune’ is _not_ ‘Fortune my foe,’ but one of Lempill’s ballads, printed by R. Lekpriwicke (_sic_), and still extant in the Huth Collections–the true title being ‘Ane Complaint vpon Fortoun;’ beginning ‘Inconstant world, fragill and friuolus.'”
[112] Nares quotes from Chapman’s _May Day_, “Lord, how you roll in your _rope-ripe_ terms.” Minshew explains the word as “one ripe for a rope, or for whom the gallows groans.” I find the expression “to rowle in their ropripe termes” in William Bullein’s rare and curious “Dialogue both pleasaunt and pietiful,” 1573, p. 116.
[113] A very common term for a pimp.
[114] “Bale of dice”–a pair of dice; the expression occurs in the _New Inn_, I. 3, &c.
[115] This song is set to music in an old collection by Ravenscroft, 1614.
[116] More usually written “mammets,” i.e., puppets (_Rom. & Jul_. iii. 5; though, no doubt, in _Hen. IV_., ii. 3, Gifford was right in connecting the word with Lat. mamma).
[117] Cf. Drayton’s _Fairy Wedding_:–
“Besides he’s deft and wondrous airy, And of the noblest of the fairy!
Chiefe of the Crickets of much fame In fairy a most ancient name.”
So in _Merry Wives_, v. 5, l. 47.
[118] Quy. What kind o’ God, &c.
[119] “There is a kind of crab-tree also or _wilding_ that in like manner beareth twice a yeare.” Holland’s Plinie, b. xvi.
[120] “Assoyle” usually = _absolve_; here _resolve, explain_.
[121] The italics are my own, as I suppose that the four lines were intended to be sung.
[122] 4to. It is, it is not, &c.
[123] The sense of “fine, rare,” rather than that of “frequent, abundant” (as Nares explains), would seem to suit the passages in Shakespeare and elsewhere where the word is used colloquially.
[124] “Sib” = akin. Possibly the word still lingers in the North Country: Sir Walter Scott uses it in the _Antiquary_, &c.
[125] “Wonning” sc. dwelling (Germ. wohnen). Spenser frequently uses the word.
[126] A Spenserian passage (as Mr. Collier has pointed out): vid. F.Q., B. 2. C. xii. 71.
[127] 4to. then.
[128] 4to. And here she woman.
[129] “Caul” = part of a lady’s head-dress: “reticulum crinale vel retiolum,” Withals’ Dictionarie, 1608 (quoted by Nares).
[130] “The battaile. The Combattantes Sir Ambrose Vaux, knight, and Glascott the Bayley of Southwarke: the place the Rule of the Kings Bench.”
[131] In some copies the name “John Kirke” is given in full.
[132] _Bottom_ = a ball of worsted. George Herbert in a letter to his mother says: “Happy is he whose _bottom_ is wound up, and laid ready for work in the New Jerusalem.” So in the _Virgin Martyr_ (v. 1),–“I, before the Destinies my _bottom_ did wind up, would flesh myself once more upon some one remarkable above all these.”
[133] 4to. your.
[134] Cf. the catalogue of torments in the _Virgin Martyr_ (v. 1).
[135] The 4to prints the passage thus:–
“I have now livd my full time;
Tell me, my _Henricke_, thy brave successe, That my departing soule
May with thy story,” &c.
Several times further on I shall have to alter the irregular arrangement of the 4to in order to restore the blank verse; but I shall not think it necessary to note the alteration.
[136] 4to, Horne.
[137] 4to, Aloft.
[138] The 4to gives ‘_The_ further,’ and in the next line ‘_Or_ further.’
[139] The whole of this scene is printed as verse in the 4to. I have printed the early part as prose, that the reader’s eye may not be vexed by metrical monstrosities.
[140] Sharpe i.e. sword. Vid. Halliwell’s Dictionary.
[141] 4to. field.
[142] Sir Thomas Browne in _Vulgar Errors_ (Book 2, cap. 5) discusses this curious superstition at length:–‘And first we hear it in every mouth, and in many good authors read it, that a diamond, which is the hardest of stones, not yielding unto steel, emery, or any thing but its own powder, is yet made soft, or broke by the blood of a goat. Thus much is affirmed by Pliny, Solinus, Albertus, Cyprian, Austin, Isidore, and many Christian writers: alluding herein unto the heart of man, and the precious blood of our Saviour, who was typified by the goat that was slain, and the scape goat in the wilderness: and at the effusion of whose blood, not only the hard hearts of his enemies relented, but the stony rocks and veil of the temple were shattered,’ &c.
[143] The expression, to ‘carry coals’ (i.e. to put up with insults) is too common to need illustration.
[144] 4to. deaths prey. The change restores the metre.
[145] ‘Owe’ for ‘own’ is very common in Shakespeare.
[146] The 4to. prints this scene throughout as verse.
[147] ‘Larroones,’ from Fr. _larron_ (a thief). Cf. Nabbes’ _Bride_, iii. 3. ‘Remercie, Monsieur. Voe call a me Cooke now! de greasie _Larone_!’
[148] Quy. rogues.
[149] Quy. had. There seems to be a reference to Stephen’s martyrdom described in _The Acts_.
[150] “Black Jack” and “bombard” were names given to wide leathern drinking-vessels.
[151] A term in venery.
[152] A hound’s chaps were called “flews”.
[153] ‘Sparabiles,’ nails used by shoemakers. Nares quotes Herrick:
Cob clouts his shoes, and, as the story tells, His thumb-nailes par’d afford him sperrables.’
The word is of uncertain derivation.
[154] 4to. recovering.
[155] ‘Champion’ is the old form of ‘champain.’
[156] ‘Diet-bread’ was the name given to a sort of sweet seedcake: Vid. Nares’ Glossary.
[157] Quy. Oh! what cold, famine, &c.
[158] For an account of the “bezoar nut” and the Unicorn’s horn vid. Sir Thomas Browne’s “Vulgar Errors,” book iii. cap. xxiii.
[159] Vid. Liddell and Scott, s.v. [Greek: hypostasis].
[160] Sc. diaphoretick ([Greek: diaphoraetikos]), causing perspiration.
[161] _Rabby Roses_ is no doubt a corruption of _Averroes_, the famous editor of Aristotle, and author of numerous treatises on theological and medical subjects.
[162] Sir Thomas Browne (_Vulgar Errors_, I. vii.) quotes from Pierius another strange cure for a scorpion’s bite, “to sit upon an ass with one’s face towards his tail, for so the pain leaveth the man and passeth into the beast.”
[163] “Bandogs” (or, more correctly speaking, “band-dogs”)–dogs that had to be kept chained on account of their fierceness.
[164] (4to): men.
[165] ‘Carbonardoed’–cut into collops for grilling: a common expression.
[166] ‘Rochet.’
“A linen vest, like a surplice, worn by bishops, under their satin robes. The word, it is true, is not obsolete, nor the thing disused, but it is little known.”–Nares. (“Lent unto thomas Dowton, the 11 of Aprel 1598, to bye tafitie to macke a _Rochet_ for the beshoppe in earlle good wine, xxiiii s.” Henslowe’s Diary, ed. Collier, p. 122.)
[167] (4to): by.
[168] The word “portage” occurs in a difficult passage of _Pericles_, iii. 1,–
“Even at the first
Thy loss is more than can thy _portage_ quit With all thou canst find here.”
If there be no corruption in the passage of _Pericles_, the meaning can only be (as Steevens explained) “thy safe arrival at the port of life.” Our author’s use of the word “portage” is even more perplexing than Shakespeare’s; “Thy portion” would give excellent sense; but, with the passage of _Pericles_ before us, we cannot suppose that there is a printer’s error. [In _Henry V_. 3, i, we find ‘portage’ for ‘port-holes.’]
[169] Quy. ever?
[170] The subst. _mouse_ is sometimes found as an innocent term of endearment, but more often in a wanton sense (like the Lat. passer).
[171] ‘Felt locks’–matted locks, commonly called “elf-locks”: the various forms “felted,” “felter’d” and “feutred” are found.
[172] ‘Stavesucre’ (said to be a corruption of [Greek: staphis]. and usually written ‘Staves-acre’) a kind of lark-spur considered efficacious in destroying lice. Cf. Marlowe’s _Dr. Faustus_ (i. 4)– ‘Stavesacre? that’s good to kill vermin; then belike, if I serve you, I shall be lousy.’
[173] Quy. early-rioting.
[174] Ought we to read ‘fins’? Webster (_Duchess of Malfi_, ii. 1) has the expression the ‘_fins_ of her eye-lids’; it is found also in the _Malcontent_ (i. 1), The confusion between the ‘f’ and the long ‘s’ is very common.
[175] Shakespeare uses the verb ‘fang’ (_Timon of Athens_, iv. 3) in the sense of ‘seize, clutch.’
[176] Varlet–‘the serjeant-at-mace to the city counters was so called,’ Halliwell (who, however, gives no instance of this use).
[177] ‘Trunk-hose’ wide breeches stuffed with wool, &c.
[178] I can make nothing of this verse: the obscurity is not at all removed by putting a comma after ‘rules.’ Doubtless the passage is corrupt.
[179] _Our rest we set_ in pleasing, &c., i.e., we have made up our mind to please. The metaphor is taken from primero (a game, seemingly, not unlike the Yankee ‘poker’), where to ‘set up rest’ meant to stand on one’s cards; but the expression was also used in a military sense. Vid: Furness’ Variorum Shakesp., _Rom. & Iul_., iv. 5.
[180] In Vol. IX. of the _Transactions of the Royal Historical Society_ is an elaborate paper (since reprinted for private circulation) by the Rev. F.G. Fleay ‘On the Actor Lists, 1538-1642.’ The learned writer tells us nothing new about Samuel Rowley; but his essay well deserves a careful study.
[181] Quy. a _fury’s_ face.
[182] ‘Lacrymae’–one of the many allusions to John Dowland’s musical work of that name.
[183] ‘Laugh and lay down’ (more usually written ‘lie down’) was the name of a game at cards. A prose-tract by ‘C.T.,’ published in 1605, is entitled ‘Laugh and Lie Down: or the World’s Folly.’ The expression, it need hardly be said, is often used in a wanton sense.
[184] 4to. joyes.
[185] Quy. prove.
[186] Much of this scene is found, almost word for word, in colloquy 4 of John Day’s _Parliament of Bees_.
[187] One of the characters in the _New Inn_ is Fly, ‘the Parasite of the Inn’; and in the _Virgin Martyr_ (ii. 2) we also find the word ‘fly’ used (like Lat. musca) for an inquisitive person. In the text I suspect we should read ‘fly-about’ for flye-boat.
[188] ‘Blacke gard’ was the name given to the lowest drudges who rode amongst the pots and pans in royal processions: vid. Gifford’s _Jonson_, II. 169.
[189] The compositor seems to have been dozing: the word ‘Vaw’ points to the reading ‘Vaward,’ and probably the passage ran–‘this the Vaward, this the Rearward.’
[190] ‘Totter’d’ i.e. tatter’d. Cf. _Richard II_. (iii. 3) ‘the castle’s totter’d battlements’ (the reading of the 4to.; the Folios give ‘tatter’d’). In _King John_ (v. 5) I think, with Staunton, that the expression ‘tott’ring colours’ means ‘drooping colours’ rather than, as usually explained, ‘tattered.’
[191] ‘Spurn-point–An old game mentioned in a curious play called _Apollo Shroving_, 12mo., Lond. 1627, p. 49.’ Halliwell.
[192] ‘Grandoes’–I find the word so spelt in Heywood’s _A Challenge for Beauty_–‘I, and I assure your Ladiship, ally’de to the best Grandoes of _Spaine_.’ (_Works_, v. 18.)
[193] 4to. _Albia_.
[194] Cornego is telling the Captain to ‘duck’–to make his bow–to Onaelia.
[195] Nares quotes from the _Owles Almanacke_, 1618, p. 6, an allusion to this worthy,–‘Since the _German fencer_ cudgell’d most of our English fencers, now about 5 moneths past.’
[196] It is hardly necessary to remind the reader that ‘bastard’ was the name of a sweet Spanish wine.
[197] ‘Goll’–A cant expression for ‘hand’: it is found continually in our old writers.
[198] The words ‘Some scurvy thing, I warrant’ should no doubt be given to Cornego.
[199] The conversation between Onaelia and the Poet very closely resembles, in parts, _Character_ 5 of John Day’s _Parliament of Bees_.
[200] 4to lanch.
[201] ‘The Hanging Tune’ i.e. the tune of ‘Fortune my Foe,’ to which were usually sung ballads relating to murders. The music of ‘Fortune my Foe,’ is given in Mr. Chappell’s ‘Popular Music of the Olden Time’; and the words may be seen in the ‘Bayford Ballads’ (edited by Mr. Ebsworth, our greatest master of ballad-lore).
[202] Cf. Dekker’s _Match me in London_ (Dramatic Works, iv. 180)–
‘I doe speake _English_ When I’de move pittie; when dissemble, _Irish_; _Dutch_ when I reele; and tho I feed on scalions _If I should brag Gentility I’de gabble Welch_.’
[203] Cf. Day’s _Parliament of Bees_, Character 4.
[204] ‘Estridge’ is the common form of ‘ostrich’ among the Elizabethans (I Henry IV., iv. 1, &c).
[205] “Poire d’angoisse. _A choke-Peare; or a wild soure Peare_.” Cotgrave.
[206] 4to. Moble.
[207] Quy. head.
[208] “Prick-song”–“harmony written or pricked down, in opposition to plain-song, where the descant rested with the will of the singer.” Chappell’s _Popular Music_, &c., I. 51.
[209] The keys of the ‘virginal’ were called ‘Jacks.’ For a description of the ‘virginal’ see Mr. Chappell’s _Popular Music_, &c. I, 103.
[210] ‘Coranta’ i.e. curranto, news-sheet: Ben Jonson’s ‘Staple of News’ gives us a good notion of the absurdities that used to be circulated.
[211] ‘Linstocke’ (or, more correctly, ‘lint-stock’)–a stick for holding a gunner’s match.
[212] Toot–to pry into: ‘tooter’ was formerly the name for a ‘tout’ (vid. Todd’s Johnson).
[213] ‘Aphorisme. _An Aphorisme (or generall rule in Physicke)_.’ Cotgrave.
[214] 4to. creaking.
[215] Rosemary was used at marriages and funerals.
[216] Day dedicates his _Humour out of Breath_ to ‘Signeor Nobody’: ‘Signeor No,’ the shorter form, is not unfrequently found (e.g. _Ile of Guls_, p. 59–my reprint). To whatever advantage _No_ may have appeared on the stage, he certainly is a pitiful object in print.
[217] _Baltazar’s_ notions of Geography are vague. A most interesting account of Bantam, the capital of Java, may be seen in Vol. v. of Hakluyt’s ‘Collection of early Voyages,’ ed. 1812. It occurs in the _Description of a Voyage made by certain Ships of Holland to the East Indies &c. … Translated out of Dutch into English by W.P. London_. 1589. ‘The towne,’ we are told, ‘is not built with streetes nor the houses placed in order, but very foule, lying full of filthy water, which men must passe through or leap over for they have no bridges.’ For the people–‘it is a very lying and theevish kind of people, not in any sort to be trusted.’
[218] The ‘magical weed’ I take to be hemlock; cf. Ben Jonson’s _Masque of Queens_–
‘And I have been plucking, plants among, Hemlock, henbane, adders-tongue
Night-shade, moon-wort, libbard’s bane And twice, by the dogs, was like to be ta’en.’
[219] The poisoned ‘Spanish fig’ acquired considerable notoriety among the early Dramatists: cf. Webster, _White_ Devil (p. 30, ed. Dyce, 1857.) ‘I do look now for a _Spanish fig_ or an Italian salad daily’: Dekker. (iv. 213, Pearson) ‘Now doe I looke for a fig’: whether Pistol’s allusion (Henry V, iii. 6) is to the poisoned fig may be doubted.