Chapter XXVII: Act V: , Scene I (2)

[113] _Ink-horn_ is a very common epithet of contempt for pedantic and affected expressions. The following, from Churchyard's "Choice," sig. E e 1., sets it in its true light--

"As _Ynkehorne_ termes smell of the schoole sometyme."

It went out of use with the disuse of ink-horns. It would be very easy to multiply instances where the word is employed in our old writers. It most frequently occurs in Wilson's "Rhetoric," where is inserted an epistle composed of _ink-horn terms_; "suche a letter as Wylliam Sommer himself could not make a better for that purpose. Some will thinke, and swere it too, that there never was any suche thing written: well, I will not force any man to beleve it, but I will saie thus much, and abyde by it too, the like have been made heretofore, and praised above the moone." It opens thus--

"Ponderying, expendying, and revolutying with myself, your urgent affabilitee, and ingenious capacitee, for mundaine affaires, I cannot but celebrate and extolle your magnificall dexteritee above all other; for how could you have adopted such illustrate, prerogative, and dominicall superioritee, if the fecunditee of your inginie had not been so fertile and wonderfull pregnant?"--Fo. 86. edit. 1553. Wilson elsewhere calls them "_ink-pot_ terms."

[114] [The popular idea at that time, and long afterwards, of Machiavelli, arising from a misconception of his drift in "Il Principe." See an article on this subject in Macaulay's "Essays."]

[115] [Old copy, _toucheth_, which may, of course, be right; but the more probable word is that here substituted.]

[116] [The "Ebrietatis Encomium."]

[117] [Perhaps the "Image of Idleness," of which there was an edition in 1581. See Hazlitt's "Handbook," p. 291, and ibid. Suppl.]

[118] Nash alludes to a celebrated burlesque poem by Francisco Copetta, entitled (in the old collection of productions of the kind, made in 1548, and many times afterwards reprinted), "Capitolo nel quale si lodano le Noncovelle." Some of the thoughts in Rochester's well-known piece seem taken from it. A notion of the whole may be formed from the following translation of four of the _terze rime_--

"_Nothing_ is brother to primaeval matter,
'Bout which philosophers their brains may batter
To find it out, but still their hopes they flatter.

"Its virtue is most wondrously display'd,
For in the Bible, we all know, 'tis said,
God out of _nothing_ the creation made.

"Yet _nothing_ has nor head, tail, back, nor shoulder,
And tho' than the great _Dixit_ it is older,
Its strength is such, that all things first shall moulder.

"The rank of _nothing_ we from this may see:
The mighty Roman once declared that he
Caesar or _nothing_ was resolv'd to be."

[But after all, had not Nash more probably in his recollection Sir Edward Dyer's "Praise of Nothing," a prose tract printed in 1585?]

[119] [See Hazlitt's "Handbook," v. Fleming.]

[120] [Alluding to the "Grobianus et Grobiana" of Dedekindus.]

[121] Ovid's lines are these--

"Discite, qui sapitis, non quae nos scimus inertes,
Sed trepidas acies, et fera castra sequi."

--"Amorum," lib. iii. el. 8.

[122] The author of "The World's Folly," 1615, uses _squitter-wit_ in the same sense that Nash employs _squitter-book_: "The _primum mobile_, which gives motion to these over-turning wheels of wickedness, are those mercenary _squitter-wits_, miscalled poets."

In "The Two Italian Gentlemen," the word _squitterbe-book_, or _squitter-book_, is found, and with precisely the same signification which Nash gives it--

"I would mete with the scalde _squitterbe-booke_ for this geare."

[123] His _nown_, instead of his _own_, was not an uncommon corruption. So Udall--"Holde by his yea and nay, be his _nowne_ white sonne."

[124] [Old copy, _Fuilmerodach_.]

[125] _Regiment_ has been so frequently used in the course of these volumes, in the sense of government or rule, that it is hardly worth a note.

[126] This is, of course, spoken ironically, and of old, the expression _good fellow_ bore a double signification, which answered the purpose of Will Summer. Thus, in Lord Brooke's "Caelica," sonnet 30--

"_Good fellows_, whom men commonly doe call.
Those that do live at warre with truth and shame."

Again, in Heywood's "Edward IV. Part I.," sig. E 4--

"KING EDWARD. Why, dost thou not love a _good fellow_?

"HOBS. No, _good fellows_ be _thieves_."

[127] Henry Baker was therefore the name of the actor who performed the part of Vertumnus.

[128] The joke here consists in the similarity of sound between _despatch_ and _batch_, Will Summers mistaking, or pretending to mistake, in consequence.

[129] [Old copy, _Sybalites_.]

[130] This is still, as it was formerly, the mode of describing the awkward bowing of the lower class. In the "Death of Robert Earl of Huntington," 1601, when Will Brand, a vulgar assassin, is introduced to the king, the stage direction to the actor in the margin is, "_Make Legs_."

[131] A proverb in [Heywood's "Epigrams," 1562. See Hazlitt's "Proverbs," 1869, p. 270. Old copy, _love me a little_.]

[132] [Old copy, _deny_.]

[133] The meaning of the word _snudge_ is easily guessed in this place, but it is completely explained by T. Wilson, in his "Rhetoric," 1553, when he is speaking of a figure he calls _diminution_, or moderating the censure applied to vices by assimilating them to the nearest virtues: thus he would call "a _snudge_ or _pynche-penny_ a good husband, a thrifty man" (fo. 67). Elsewhere he remarks: "Some riche _snudges_, having great wealth, go with their hose out at heels, their shoes out at toes, and their cotes out at both elbowes; for who can tell if such men are worth a grote when their apparel is so homely, and all their behavior so base?" (fo. 86.) The word is found in Todd's Johnson, where Coles is cited to show that _snudge_ means "one who hides himself in a house to do mischief." No examples of the employment of the word by any of our writers are subjoined.

[134] Mr Steevens, in a note to "Hamlet," act iv. sc. 5, says that he thinks Shakespeare took the expression of _hugger-mugger_ there used from North's Plutarch, but it was in such common use at the time that twenty authors could be easily quoted who employ it: it is found in Ascham, Sir J. Harington, Greene, Nash, Dekker, Tourneur, Ford, &c. In "The Merry Devil of Edmonton" also is the following line--

"But you will to this gear in _hugger-mugger_."

[135] It is not easy to guess why Nash employed this Italian word instead of an English one. _Lento_ means lazy, and though an adjective, it is used here substantively; the meaning, of course, is that the idle fellow who has no lands begs.

[136] i.e., Hates. See note to "Merchant of Venice," act v. sc. 1.

[137] [Old copy, _Hipporlatos_. The emendation was suggested by Collier.]

[138] The reader is referred to "Romeo and Juliet," act i. sc. 4, respecting the strewing of rushes on floors instead of carpets. Though nothing be said upon the subject, it is evident that Back-winter makes a resistance before he is forced out, and falls down in the struggle.

[139] [Soiling: a common word in our early writers. Old copy, _wraying_.]

[140] _I pray you, hold the book well_, was doubtless addressed to the prompter, or as he is called in the following passage, from the Induction to Ben Jonson's "Cynthia's Revels," 1601, the _book-holder_: one of the children of Queen Elizabeth's chapel is speaking of the poet. "We are not so officiously befriended by him as to have his presence in the 'tiring house to _prompt_ us aloud, stampe at the _booke-holder_, sweare for our properties, curse the poor tire-man, raile the musicke out of tune, and sweat for every veniall trespasse we commit, as some author would."

[141] [Old copy, _cares_. The word _murmuring_ is, by an apparent error, repeated in the 4to from the preceding line.]

[142] [Old copy, _ears_.]

[143] Ready.

[144] This line fixes the date when "Summer's Last Will and Testament" was performed very exactly--viz., during Michaelmas Term, 1593; for Camden informs us in his "Annals," that in consequence of the plague, Michaelmas Term, instead of being held in London, as usual, was held at St Albans.

[145] "Deus, Deus, ille, Menalca!
Sis bonus o felixque tuis."
--Virgil "Ecl." v. 64.

[146] These words, which are clearly a stage direction, and which show how mere a child delivered the Epilogue, in the old copy are made part of the text.

[147] Malone originally supposed the plays to be by Heywood, and so treated them. In the last edit. of Shakespeare by Boswell (iii. 99) the mistake is allowed to remain, and in a note also "The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington" is quoted as Heywood's production.

[148] Ritson, in his "Robin Hood," I. li. et seq., gives some quotations from them, as by Munday and Chettle.

[149] Mr Gifford fell into an error (Ben Jonson, vi. 320) in stating that "The Case is Altered" "should have stood at the head of Jonson's works, had chronology only been consulted." In the "Life of Ben Jonson," he refers to Henslowe's papers to prove that "Every Man in his Humour" was written in 1596, and in "The Case is Altered," Ben Jonson expressly quotes Meres' "Palladia Tamia," which was not published until 1598. Nash's "Lenten Stuff," affords evidence that "the witty play of 'The Case is Altered'" was popular in 1599.

[150] On the title-page of his translation of "Palmerin of England," the third part of which bears date in 1602, he is called "one of the Messengers of her Majesty's Chamber;" but how, and at what date he obtained this "small court appointment," we are without information. Perhaps it was given to him as a reward for his services in 1582.

[151] Munday did not always publish under his own name, and according to Ritson, whose authority has often been quoted on this point, translated "The Orator, written in French by Alexander Silvayn," under the name of Lazarus Piot, from the dedication to which it may be inferred that he had been in the army. "A ballad made by Ant. Munday, of the encouragement of an English soldier to his fellow mates," was licenced to John Charlewood, in 1579.

[152] [See the more copious memoir of Munday by Mr Collier, prefixed to the Shakespeare Society's edit. of his "John-a-Kent," &c., 1851.]

[153] That is, no printed copy has yet been discovered, although it may have passed through the press.

[154] In Henslowe's MSS. this play is also called, "The First part of Cardinal Wolsey."

[155] In 1620 was printed "The World toss'd at Tennis, by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley." Perhaps it is the same play, and Munday had a share in the authorship of it. [This is not at all probable.]

[156] There is no list of characters prefixed to the old copy.

[157] This forms the Induction to the play, which purports to have been written to be performed before Henry VIII., by Sir Thomas Mantle, who performed Robin Hood, by Sir John Eltham, who played the part of Little John, by Skelton, who acted Friar Tuck, by "Little Tracy," as he is called, who supported the character of Maid Marian, and others, whose names are not mentioned. The whole is only supposed to be a rehearsal prior to the representation of the piece before the king, and in the course of it Skelton and Sir John Eltham have various critical and explanatory interlocutions. Skelton, it will be observed, also undertakes the duty of interpreting the otherwise "inexplicable dumb-show." The old copy is not divided into acts and scenes.

[158] [Old copy, _your_.]

[159] [In the old copy this direction is unnecessarily repeated in detail.]

[160] [The direction inserted on p. 107 is repeated in full in the 4to.]

[161] This is in some sort a parody upon the well-known proverb, which is thus given by Ray--

"Many talk of Robin Hood, that never shot in his bow,
And many talk of Little John, that never did him know."

It is also found in Camden's "Remains," by Philpot, 1636, p. 302, though the two lines, obviously connected in sense, are there separated. [See also Hazlitt's "Proverbs," 1869, p. 276.]

[162] This sort of verse, from the frequent use of it made by Skelton in his poems, acquired the name of _Skeltonic_ or _Skeltonical_. According to the manner in which the poet's character is drawn, he could not avoid falling into the use of it, even out of its place, in the course of the play; and of this a singular instance is given after the capture and discovery of Ely, when Sir John Eltham, in one of the interlocutions, complains of Skelton that in performing the part of Friar Tuck he fell--

"Into the vein
Of ribble-rabble rhimes Skeltonical."

In 1589 was published a tract with the following curious title--

"A Skeltonical salutation,
Or condigne gratulation,
And just vexation
Of the Spanish nation;
That in bravado
Spent many a crusado
In setting forth an Armado
England to invado."

The whole piece is in this kind of verse. A copy of it is in the British Museum.

Puttenham, speaking of poetry of this sort, says: "Such were the rimes of Skelton (usurping the name of Poet Laureat), being in deede but a rude, rayling rimer, and all his doings ridiculous; he used both short distances and short measures, pleasing onely to the popular eare; in our courtly maker we banish them utterly."--_Arte of English Poesie_, 1589, p. 69.

[163] Matilda is here, and elsewhere, called Marian, before in fact she takes that name; and after she has assumed it, in the course of the play she is frequently called Matilda.

[164] [Old copy, _Into_.]

[165] Jest is used in the same sense in "The Spanish Tragedy," act i., where the king exclaims--

"But where is old Hieronimo, our marshal?
He promis'd us, in honour of our guest,
To grace our banquet with some pompous _jest_."

Dr Farmer, in reference to the line in "Richard II., act i. sc. 3--

"As gentle and as jocund as to _jest_,"

quotes the above passage from "The Spanish Tragedy" to show that to _jest_, "in old language, means _to play a part in a mask_."

[166] [Old copy, _my_.]

[167] [Old copy, _place_.]

[168] Ritson has the following note upon this sign: "That is, the inn so called, upon Ludgate Hill. The modern sign, which, however, seems to have been the same 200 years ago, is _a bell_ and _a wild man_; but the original is supposed to have been _a beautiful Indian_, and the inscription, _La belle Sauvage_. Some, indeed, assert that the inn once belonged to a Lady _Arabella Sauvage_; and others that its name originally, the _belle_ and _Sauvage_, arose (like the _George and Blue Boar_) from the junction of two inns with those respective signs. _Non nostrum est tantas componere lites_." "Robin Hood," I. p. liv.

[169] [Old copy, _meant_.]

[170] Little John's _exit_ is marked here in the old copy, but it does not take place till afterwards: he first whispers Marian, as we are told immediately, _John_ in the original standing for Little John.

[171] i.e., A collection or company, and not, as we now use the word, a _kind_ "of fawning sycophants."

[172] i.e., Made a Justice of Peace of him, entitling him to the style of _Worship_.

[173] [Old copy, _ran_.]

[174] i.e., "I shall _be even_ with you." So Pisaro in Haughton's "Englishmen for my Money," says of his three daughters--

"Well, I shall find a tune _to meet_ with them."--Sig. E 2.

[175] Alluding to the challenges of the officers who are aiding and assisting the Sheriff.

[176] Paris Garden (or as it is printed in the old copy, _Parish_ Garden), was a place where bears were baited and other animals kept. Curtal was a common term for a small horse, and that which Banks owned, and which acquired so much celebrity for its sagaciousness, is so called by Webster--

"And some there are
Will keep a _curtal_ to show juggling tricks,
And give out 'tis a spirit."

--"Vittoria Corombona," [Webster's Works, by Hazlitt, ii. 47.]

_Sib is related to_; and perhaps _the ape's only least at Paris Garden_, may apply to Banks's pony. Dekker, in his "Villanies Discovered," 1620, mentions in terms "Bankes his Curtal."

[177] In the course of the play John is sometimes called _Earl_ John, and sometimes _Prince_ John, as it seems, indifferently.

[178] [Old copy, _deceive_.]

[179] It must be recollected that the Queen and Marian have exchanged dresses.

[180] [Old copy, _must_.]

[181] [Old copy, _sovereign's mother, queen_.]

[182] [Old copy, _cankers_]

[183] [Old copy, _thrust_.]

[184] _Haught_ is frequently used for _haughty_, when the poet wants to abridge it of a syllable: thus Shakespeare, in "Richard III." act ii. sc. 3--

"And the queen's sons and brothers _haught_ and proud."

He has also "the _haught_ Northumberland" and "the _haught_ Protector."

Kyd in "Cornelia," act iv., also has this line--

"Pompey, the second Mars, whose _haught_ renown."

[185] [Old copy, _Ah, my good Lord, for, etc_.]

[186] i.e., Shall not _separate_ us till we die. See Gifford's note to "The Renegado."--Massinger's Works, ii. 136.

[187] _Palliard_ is to be found in Dryden's "Hind and Panther:" _palliardize_ is not in very common use among our old writers. Dekker, in his "Bellman of London," 1616, sig. D 2, gives a description of a _Palliard_. Tuck's exclamation looks as if it were quoted.

[188] In the old copy, Scarlet and Scathlock are also mentioned as entering at this juncture, but they were on the stage before.

[189] The _mistake_ to which Warman alludes is, that Friar Tuck takes part with Robin Hood, instead of assisting the Sheriff against him.

[190] This incident, with some variations, is related in the old ballad of "Robin Hood rescuing the Widow's _three_ sons from the Sheriff, when going to be executed." See Ritson's "Robin Hood," ii. 151.

[191] The old copy has a blank here; but whether it was so in the original MS., whether a line has dropped out by accident, or whether it was meant that Much should be suddenly interrupted by Robin Hood, must be matter of conjecture.

[192] So printed in the old copy, as if part of some poetical narrative.

[193] i.e., _Gang_. So written by Milton, Jonson, and many of our best authors.

[194] [Old copy, _all your_.]

[195] [Old copy, _never wife_.]

[196] [Old copy, _in a loath'd_.]

[197] [Own, from the Latin _proprius_.]

[198] _To lie at the ward_ was, and is still, a term in fencing; thus Fairfax, translating the fight between Tancred and Argantes in the 6th book of Tasso's "Jerusalem Delivered," says--

"Close _at his surest ward_ each champion _lieth_."

--"Godfrey of Bulloigne," 1600.

[199] The _exit_ of Salisbury is not marked, but it of course takes place here.

[200] It seems singular that the author of this play should confound two such persons as the Shoemaker of Bradford, who made all comers "vail their staves," and George-a-Greene, the Pinner of Wakefield; yet such is the case in the text. The exploits of both are celebrated in the play of "The Pinner of Wakefield" (in Dyce's editions of Greene's Works), which seems to have been popular. Nevertheless Henslowe in his MSS. speaks of George-a-Greene as one dramatic piece, and of "The Pinner of Wakefield" as another, as if they were two distinct heroes. See "Malone's Shakespeare," by Boswell, iii. 300. Munday also makes Scathlock and Scarlet two separate persons. [Munday does not confound the Pinder of Wakefield with the Bradford hero, for he expressly distinguishes between them; but he errs in giving the latter the name of George-a-Greene.]

[201] To _record_, as applied to birds, is synonymous to the verb to _sing_: thus in "The Spanish Tragedy," act ii.--

"Hark, madam, how the _birds record_ by night."

Shakespeare so employs the word in his "Two Gentlemen of Verona," act v. sc. 4, and in the notes upon the passage more than sufficient instances are collected.

[202] The 4to reads "the lawless _Rener_" [the _n_ being misprinted for _u_].

[203] _Mort_ was the old cant word for a _wench_, and was synonymous with _doxy_, which is still sometimes in use. An explanation, for such as require it, may be found in Dekker'a "Bellman of London," ed. 1616, sig. N.

[204] Mr Todd, in his "Dictionary," thus explains the word _belive_: "Speedily, quickly; it is still common in Westmoreland for _presently_, which sense, implying a little delay, like our expression of _by and by_, was formerly the general acceptation of the word." Spenser uses it not unfrequently--

"Perdie, Sir Knight," said then the enchanter _b'live_,
"That shall I shortly purchase to your bond."

--"Faerie Queene," b. ii. c. iii. st. 18.

[205] _Manchet_ is fine white bread: _panis candidior et purior_.

[206] It seems agreed by the commentators on the word _proface_ (which Shakespeare uses in "Henry IV. Part II.," act v. sc. 3), that it means in fact what Robin Hood has already said: "Much good may it do you." It is disputed whether it be derived from the French or the Italian; Mr Todd gives _prouface_ as the etymology, and Malone _pro vi faccia_, but in fact they are one and the same. It occurs in "The Widow's Tears," act iv. sc. 1, where Ero is eating and drinking in the tomb. [Compare Dyce's "Shakespeare," 1868, Gloss, in v.]

[207] The 4to terms them _poting_ sticks, and so sometimes they were called, instead of _poking_ sticks. They were used to plait and set ruffs.

[208] The old copy here repeats, in part, the preceding stage direction, viz., _Enter Friar like a pedlar, and Jenny_, which must be an error, as they are already on the stage; in fact, only Sir Doncaster and his armed followers enter. The _exit_ of Robin Hood, with Marian and Fitzwater, is not noticed.

[209] i.e., Thrive.

[210] The rhyme is made out by reading _certainly_, but the old copy, [which is printed as prose.] has it _certain_.

[211] This stage direction, like many others, is not marked.

[212] So in "Henry VI. Part III." act iii. sc. 3: "Did I _impale_ him with the regal crown?" This use of the word is common.

[213] [Old copy, _light_.]

[214] See Mr Steevens' note on "Henry VIII.," act v. sc. 3.

[215] These two lines clearly belong to the Prior, though the old copy omits his name before them.

[216] i.e., Vengeance.

[217] [Old copy, _Souldans_.]

[218] In the old copy _soldiour's_.

[219] See Mr Gifford's note (6) to "The Maid of Honour," Massinger's Works, iii. 47, for an explanation of the origin and use of this expression of contempt. See also Malone's remarks upon the passage in "Twelfth Night," act iii. sc. 4: "He is a knight dubb'd with an unhatch'd rapier and on _carpet_ consideration."

[220] On the standard by which Leicester was attended on his entrance, no doubt the crest of that family, viz., a bear and ragged staff, was represented. To this the queen refers when she exclaims--

"Were this _bear_ loose, how he would tear our maws."

[221] [Old copy, _Bear, thou hast_. Leicester was accompanied by his ancient, whose entrance is marked above.]

[222] _Quite_ is frequently used for _requite_: as in Massinger's "Old Law," act ii. sc. 2--

"In troth, Eugenia, I have cause to weep too;
But when I visit, I come comfortably,
And look to be so _quited_."

[223] Although the old copy mentions no more at the beginning of this interview than _Enter Leicester, drum and ancient_, yet according to this speech he must either have been more numerously attended, or some of his followers came upon the stage during his dispute with the king and queen.

[224] The return of Leicester and Richmond, after their _exit_ just before, is not mentioned in the 4to.

[225] [Old copy, _Come off, off_.]

[226] _Guests_ were often formerly spelt _guess_, whether it were or were not necessary for the rhyme.

[227] The stage direction in the original is only _Enter Robin_.

[228] This must have been spoken aside to Robin Hood.

[229] [Old copy, _soon_.]

[230] [This passage appears to point to some antecedent drama not at present known.]

[231] The 4to has it _Damn'd Judaism_, but the allusion is to the treachery of Judas. The jailer of Nottingham afterwards calls Warman Judas.

[232] [Old copy, _him_.]

[233] In the old copy this is made a part of what Warman speaks, which is a mistake, as is evident from the context.

[234] Her _exit_ and re-entrance are not marked in the old copy. Perhaps she only speaks from a window.

[235] ["A term of contempt," says Halliwell in v.; but does it not refer strictly to a card-sharper?]

[236] He blunders. Of course he means "when tidings came to his ears." He does not make much better of his prose.

[237] Current.

[238] This is from the old ballad, "The Jolly Pinder of Wakefield, with Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John," with variations--

"At Michaelmas next my cov'nant comes out
When every man gathers his fee;
Then I'll take my blue blade all in my hand,
And plod to the greenwood with thee."

--Ritson's "Robin Hood," ii. 18.

[239] It is evident that Friar Tuck here gives John a sword.

[240] [Light, active. See Nares, edit. 1859, in v.]

[241] The origin of _amort_ is French, and sometimes it is written _Tout-a-la-mort_, as in "The Contention between Liberality and Prodigality," 1602, sig. B, as pointed out in a note to "Ram Alley."

[242] [Query, best hanged? He refers to the ex-sheriff.]

[243] _Defy_ is here used in the sense of _refuse_, which was not uncommon: thus in the "Death of Robert Earl of Huntington," we have this passage, "Or, as I said, for ever I _defy_ your company." In the "Four 'Prentices of London," act i. sc. 1, the old Earl of Boulogne says--

"Vain pleasures I abhor, all things _defy_,
That teach not to despair, or how to die."

Other instances are collected in a note to the words, "I do _defy_ thy conjuration," from "Romeo and Juliet," act v. sc. 3.

[244] Their entrance is not marked in the original.

[245] [Old copy, _sweet_.]

[246] It will be seen from the introduction to this play, that Munday and others, according to Henslowe, wrote a separate play under the title of "The Funeral of Richard Cordelion." [The latter drama was not written till some months after this and the ensuing piece, and was intended as a sort of sequel to the plays on the history of Robin Hood.]

[247] Misprinted _Dumwod_ in the old copy.

[248] Two lines in the Epilogue might be quoted to show that only one author was concerned in it--

"Thus is Matilda's story shown in act,
And rough-hewn out by _an_ uncunning hand."

But probably the assertion is not to be taken strictly; or if it be, it will not prove that Chettle had no hand, earlier or later, in the authorship. Mr Gifford in his Introduction to Ford's Works, vol. i. xvi., remarks very truly, that we are not to suppose from the combination of names of authors "that they were always simultaneously employed in the production of the same play;" and Munday, who was perhaps an elder poet than Chettle, may have himself originally written both parts of "The Earl of Huntington," the connection of Chettle with them being subsequent, in making alterations or adapting them to the prevailing taste.

[249] See "The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington," _Introd_. pp. 95, 96, ante.

[250] See "Restituta," ii. 367 (note).

[251] "Bibl. Poet." 159. [But see Hazlitt's "Handbook," v. C. II.]

[252] [Henslowe's "Diary," 1845, p. 147. See also Collier's "Memoirs of the Actors in Shakespeare's Plays," p. 111.]

[253] Introduction to "Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington," pp. 101, 102.

[254] With the letters R.A. on the title-page. [But surely it is very doubtful whether the play printed in 1615 (and again in 1663) is the same as that mentioned by Henslowe.]

[255] [Unless it be the drama printed in 1604 under the title of the "Wit of a Woman."]

[256] [Possibly a revival, with alterations, of Edwardes' play.]

[257] There is no list of characters prefixed to the old 4to.

[258] i.e., Skelton, who is supposed by the author to have acted the part of Friar Tuck, and who, when first he comes on the stage, is without his gown and hood.

[259] [Old copy, _Hurt_. The two are inside plotting together. See infrâ.]

[260] [The Queen Mother.]

[261] _Wight_ means _active_, or (sometimes) _clever_. It may be matter of conjecture whether "_white_ boy," "_white_ poet," "_white_ villain," &c., so often found in old dramatists, have not this origin.

[262] It is very obvious that Much begins his answer at "Cry ye mercy, Master King," but his name is omitted in the old 4to.

[263] The old copy adds here _Exeunt_, and a new scene is marked; but this is a mistake, as Robin Hood just afterwards converses with the Prior, Sir Doncaster, and Warman, without any new entrance on their part. They retire to the back of the stage.

[264] Warman is not mentioned, but we find him on the stage just afterwards, and he probably enters with Robin Hood. The entrance of Friar Tuck is also omitted.

[265] i.e., Winding his horn.

[266] The 4to, reads "Pity of _mind_, thine," &c.

[267] See the last scene of the first part of this play.

[268] The 4to merely reads _exit_.

[269] "And yet more medicinal is it than that _Moly_
That Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave."
--Milton's "Comus."

There are several kinds of moly, and one of them distinguished among horticulturists as Homer's moly. Sir T. Brown thus quaintly renders two lines in the "Odyssey" relating to it--

"The gods it _Moly_ call whose root to dig away
Is dangerous unto man, but gods they all things may."

[270] [Displeased.]

[271] [Old copy, _whindling_. See Halliwell, _v. Whimlen_. There is also _windilling_; but the word is one of those terms of contempt used by early writers rather loosely.]

[272] These two lines are taken, with a slight change, from the ballad of "The Jolly Finder of Wakefield." See Ritson's "Robin Hood," ii. 16--

"In Wakefleld there lives a jolly pinder,
In Wakefield all on a green," &c.

[273] [Old copy, _monuments_.]

[274] Ritson ("Notes and Illustrations to Robin Hood," i. 62) observes correctly that Fitzwater confounds one man with another, and that Harold Harefoot was the son and successor of Canute the Great.

[275] [Old copy, _them_.]

[276] "_In_ a trice" is the usual expression. See a variety of instances collected by Mr Todd in his Dictionary, but none of them have it "_with_ a trice," as in this place. The old copy prints the ordinary abbreviation for _with_, which may have been misread by the printer. [_With_ is no doubt wrong, and has been altered.]

[277] The scenes are marked, though incorrectly, in the old copy thus far; but the rest of the play is only divided by the _exits_ or entrances of the characters.

[278] Jenny, a country wench, uses the old word _straw'd_; but when the author speaks afterwards in the stage direction, he describes Marian as "_strewing_ flowers." Shakespeare has _o'er-strawed_ in "Venus and Adonis," perhaps for the sake of the rhyme.

[279] [i.e., Over.]

[280] [Old copy, _of_.]

[281] Formerly considered an antidote for poison. Sir Thomas Brown was not prepared to contradict it: he says, that "Lapis Lasuli hath in it a purgative faculty, we know: that _Bezoar is antidotal_, Lapis Judaicus diuretical, Coral antipileptical, we will not deny."--"Vulgar Errors," edit. 1658, p. 104. He also (p. 205) calls it the _Bezoar nut_, "for, being broken, it discovereth a kernel of a leguminous smell and taste, bitter, like a lupine, and will swell and sprout if set in the ground." Harts-horn shavings were also considered a preservative against poison.

[282] [From what follows presently it may be inferred that the king temporarily retires, although his exit or withdrawal is not marked.]

[283] The old word for _convent_: Covent-Garden, therefore, is still properly called.

[284] The _grate_ of a vintner was no doubt what is often termed in old writers the _red lattice, lettice_, or _chequers_, painted at the doors of vintners, and still preserved at almost every public-house. See note 24 to "The Miseries of Enforced Marriage."

[285] The 4to reads--

"In the highway
That joineth to the _power_."

[286] Robin Hood advises his uncle to insist upon his plea of _privilegium clericale_, or benefit of clergy--

"Stand to your clergy, uncle; save your life."

"Originally the law was held that no man should be admitted to the privilege of clergy, but such as had the _habitum et tonsuram clericalem_. But in process of time a much wider and more comprehensive criterion was established; every one that could read (a mark of great learning in those days of ignorance and her sister superstition) being accounted a clerk or _clericus_, and allowed the benefit of clerkship, though neither initiated in holy orders, nor trimmed with the clerical tonsure."--Blackstone's "Com.," iv. b. iv, ch. 28. We have already seen that the king and nobles in this play called in the aid of Friar Tuck to read the inscription on the stag's collar, though the king could ascertain that it was in Saxon characters.

[287] This account of the death of Robin Hood varies from all the popular narratives and ballads. The MS. Sloan, 715, nu. 7, f. 157, agrees with the ballad in Ritson, ii. 183, that he was treacherously bled to death by the Prioress of Kirksley.

[288] The first act has already occupied too much space, but it was difficult to divide it: in fact, as Friar Tuck says, it is a "short play," complete in itself. What follows is an induction to the rest of the story, the Friar continuing on the stage after the others have gone out.

[289] The 4to. reads thus--

"Apollo's _master doone_ I invocate,"

but probably we ought to read--

"Apollo's _masterdom_ I invocate,"

and the text has been altered accordingly. _Masterdom_ means _power, rule_; to invocate Apollo's masterdom is therefore to invocate Apollo's power to assist the Friar in his undertaking.

[290] _Enter in black_ is the whole of the stage direction, and those who enter are afterwards designated by the letters _Cho_. Perhaps the principal performers arrive attired in black, and are mentioned as _Chorus_, one speaking for the rest. _Cho_. may, however, be a misprint for _Chester_, who was sent in to "attire him."

[291] [In the new edit. of Nares the present passage is cited for _ill-part_, which is queried to mean _ill-conditioned_. Perhaps it is equivalent to _malapert_.]

[292] [Old copy, _de Brun_.] "John married Isabel, the daughter and heiress of the Earl of Angoulesme, who was before affianced to _Hugh le Brun_, Earl of March (a peer of great estate and excellence in France), by the consent of King Richard, in whose custody she then was." --Daniel's "History of England."

[293] [Old copy, _lose_.]

[294] _Led by the F.K. and L_. means, as afterwards appears, the _French king_, and _Lord_ Hugh le Brun, Earl of North March.

[295] The entrance of Bonville is omitted in the 4to.

[296] These _Lords_, as we afterwards find, are old Aubrey de Vere, Hubert, and Mowbray.

[297] [Old copy, _troops_.]

[298] [Old copy, _triumphs_.]

[299] Lodge was in the habit of using the adjective for the substantive, especially _fair_ for _fairness_; one example is enough--

"Some, well I wot, and of that sum full many,
Wisht or my _faire_ or their desire were lesse."
--_Scilla's Metamorphosis_, 1589.

See also note to "The Wounds of Civil War" (vol. vii. p. 118).

Shakespeare may be cited in many places besides the following--

"My decayed _fair_
A sunny look of his would soon repair."
--_Comedy of Errors_, act ii. sc. 1.

See Steevens's note on the above passage.

[300] The King calls him in the old copy _good Oxford_, but Oxford is not present, and from what follows we see that the command was given to Salisbury. The same mistake is again made by Hubert in this scene. Salisbury must be pronounced _Sal'sb'ry_.

[301] [Accepted.]

[302] [Old copy, _muddy_.]

[303] [A very unusual phrase, which seems to be used here in the sense of _masculine passions or properties_.]

[304] In the old copy it stands thus--

"Yes, but I do: I think not Isabel, Lord,
The worse for any writing of Brunes."

[In the MS. both Lord and Le were probably abbreviated into L., and hence the misprint, as well as misplacement, in the first line.]

[305] [i.e., You may count on her wealth as yours. We now say to build _on_, but to build _of_ was formerly not unusual.]

[306] See the notes of Dr Johnson, Steevens, and other commentators on the words in the "Comedy of Errors," act ii. sc. 1--"Poor I am but his _stale_." [See also Dyce's "Shakespeare Glossary," 1868, in v.]

[307] The stage directions are often given very confusedly, and (taken by themselves) unintelligibly, in the old copy, of which this instance may serve as a specimen: it stands thus in the 4to--"_Enter Fitzwater and his son Bruce, and call forth his daughter_."

[308] [A feeder of the Wye. Lewis's "Book of English Rivers," 1855, p. 212.]

[309] Alluding most likely to the "Andria" of Terence, which had been translated [thrice] before this play was acted; the first time [in 1497, again about 1510, and the third time] by Maurice Kiffin in 1588. [The former two versions were anonymous. See Hazlitt's "Handbook," p. 605.]

[310] _Holidom_ or _halidom_, according to Minsheu (Dict. 1617), is "an old word used by old country-women, by manner of swearing by my _halidome_; of the Saxon word _haligdome, ex halig, sanctum_, and _dome, dominium aut judicium_." Shakespeare puts it into the mouth of the host in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona," act iv. sc. 2.

[311] The entrance of Richmond clearly takes place here, but in the 4to he is said to come in with Leicester.

[312] [See Hazlitt's "Proverbs," p. 22.]

[313] [In the 4to and former editions this and the following nine words are given to Richmond.]

[314] Meaning that her father Fitzwater [takes her, she having declined to pair off with the king.] The whole account of the mask is confused in the old copy, and it is not easy to make it much more intelligible in the reprint.

[315] [The proverb is: "There are more maids than Malkin." See Hazlitt's "Proverbs," p. 392.]

[316] [Old copy, _Had_.]

[317] This line will remind the reader of Shakespeare's "multitudinous seas incarnardine," in "Macbeth," act ii. sc. 1.

[318] This answer unquestionably belongs to the king, and is not, as the 4to gives it, a part of what Leicester says. It opens with an allusion to the crest of Leicester, similar to that noticed in the "Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington."

[319] [Old copy, _by God's_.]

[320] [Old copy, _armed men_.]

[321] [Old copy, _shall_.]

[322] [An allusion to the proverb.]

[323] This and other passages refer probably to the old play of "King John," printed in 1591, [or to Shakespeare's own play which, though not printed till 1623, must have been familiar to the public, and more especially to dramatic authors.]

[324] In this line; in the old copy, _Salisbury_ is made to call himself _Oxford_.

[325] The 4to reads _Enter or above Hugh, Winchester. Enter or above_ means, that they may either enter on the stage, or stand above on the battlements, as may suit the theatre. With regard to the names _Hugh_ and _Winchester_, they are both wrong; they ought to be _Hubert_ and _Chester_, who have been left by the king to _keep good watch_. When, too, afterwards Chester asks--

"What, Richmond, will you prove a runaway?"--

the answer in the old copy is--

"From thee, good _Winchester_? now, the Lord defend!"

It ought to be--

"From thee, good _Chester_? now the Lord defend!"

And it is clear that the measure requires it. The names throughout are very incorrectly given, and probably the printer composed from a copy in which some alterations had been made in the _dramatis personae_, but incompletely. Hence the perpetual confusion of _Salisbury_ and _Oxford_.

[326] The scene changes from the outside to the inside of the castle.

[327] [Without muscle, though muscle and bristle are strictly distinct.]

[328] To _tire_ is a term in falconry: from the Fr. _tirer_, in reference to birds of prey tearing what they take to pieces.

[329] The 4to prints _Ilinnus_.

[330] [Old copy, _a deed_.]

[331] The 4to has it _Elinor_, but it ought to be _Isabel_. The previous entrance of the Queen and Matilda is not marked.

[332] [_Fairness_, in which sense the word has already occurred in this piece.]

[333] [i.e., Champion.]

[334] Matilda's name is omitted in the old copy, but the errors of this kind are too numerous to be always pointed out.

[335] [Old copy, _Triumvirates_.]

[336] Nothing can more clearly show the desperate confusion of names in this play than this line, which in the 4to stands--

"It's Lord _Hugh Burgh_ alone: _Hughberr_, what newes?"

In many places Hubert is only called _Hugh_.

[337] Company or collection.

[338] _Head of hungry wolves_ is the reading of the original copy: a "_herd_" of hungry wolves would scarcely be proper, but it may have been so written. [_Head_ may be right, and we have not altered it, as the word is occasionally used to signify a gathering or force.]

[339] In the old copy the four following lines are given to King John.

[340] [Old copy, _warres_.]

[341] [Escutcheon.]

[342] [Abided.]

[343] [Old copy, _prepare_.]

[344] This word is found in "Henry VI., Part II." act v. sc. 1, where young Clifford applies it to Richard. Malone observes in a note, that, according to Bullokar's "English Expositor," 1616, _stugmatick_ originally and properly signified "a person who has been _branded_ with a hot iron for some crime." The name of the man to whom Hubert here applies the word, is _Brand_.

Webster, in his "Vittoria Corombona," applies the term metaphorically:--

"The god of melancholy turn thy gall to poison,
And let the _stigmatic_ wrinkles in thy face.
Like to the boisterous wares in a rough tide,
One still overtake another."

[345] [Are faulty.]

[346] [Old copy, _seld_.]

[347] [The printer has made havoc with the sense here, which can only be guessed at from the context. Perhaps for _go_ we should read _God_, in allusion to the woman's protestations. Yet even then the passage reads but lamely.]

[348] [_These_ may be right; but perhaps the author wrote _his_. By his--i.e., God's--nails, is a very common oath.]

[349] [i.e., Mete or measure out a reward to her.]

[350] [To swear by the fingers, or the _ten commandments_, as they were often called, was a frequent oath.]

[351] [Old copy, _lamback'd_.]

[352] The 4to says, _between the monk and the nun_.

[353] [Query, _mother Bawd_; or is some celebrated procuress of the time when this play was written and acted meant here?]

[354] To swear by the cross of the sword was a very common practice, and many instances are to be found in D.O.P. See also notes to "Hamlet," act i. sc. 5.

[355] i.e., Secretly, a very common application of the word in our old writers.

[356] [In allusion to the proverb, "Maids say nay, and take."]

[357] Here, according to what follows, Brand steps forward and addresses Matilda. Hitherto he has spoken _aside_.

[358] See Mr Gilford's note on the words _rouse_ and _carouse_ in his Massinger, i. 239. It would perhaps be difficult, and certainly needless, to add anything to it.

[359] "Nor I to stir before I see the end,"

belongs to the queen, unquestionably, but the 4to gives it to the Abbess, who has already gone out.

[360] [Labour, pain.]

[361] The reading of the old copy is--

"Oh _pity, mourning_ sight! age pitiless!"

_Pity-moving_ in a common epithet, and we find it afterwards in this play used by young Bruce--

"My tears, my prayers, my _pity-moving_ moans."

[362] [Old copy, _wrath_.]

[363] This servant entered probably just before Oxford's question, but his entrance is not marked.

[364] To _pash_, signifies to crush or dash to pieces. So in the "Virgin Martyr," act ii. sc. 2--

"With Jove's artillery, shot down at once,
To _pash_ your gods in pieces."

See Mr Gifford's note upon this passage, and Reed's note on the same word in "Troilus and Cressida," act ii. sc. 3.

[365] The 4^o has it--

"_May_ an example of it, honest friends;"

but _make_ is certainly the true reading.

[366] _Bannings_ are _cursings_. Hundreds of examples might be added to those collected by Steevens in a note to "King Lear," act ii. sc. 3. It is a singular coincidence that _ban_, signifying a _curse_, and _ban_, a public notice of _marriage_, should have the same origin.

[367] The words, _at one door_, are necessary to make the stage direction intelligible, but they are not found in the original.

[368] [Here used apparently in the unusual sense of _scene_.]

[369] This line is quoted by Steevens in a note to "Measure for Measure," act v. sc. 1, to prove that the meaning of _refel_ is _refute_.

[370] Sir William Blunt's entrance is not marked in the old copy.

[371] To _blin_ is to _cease_, and in this sense it is met with in Spenser and other poets. Mr Todd informs us that it is still in use in the north of England. Ben Jonson, in his "Sad Shepherd," converts the verb into a substantive, "withouten _blin_."

[372] _Powder'd_ is the old word for salted: it is in this sense Shakespeare makes Falstaff use it, when he says: "If you embowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to _powder_ me and eat me to-morrow."

[373] i.e., _l'ouvert_ or opening--

"Ne lightned was with window nor with _lover_,
But with continuall candle-light."

--Spenser's "Faerie Queene," b. vi. c. x.

[374] The sense is incomplete here: perhaps a line has been lost, or Leicester suddenly recollects that Bruce has possession of Windsor Castle, and warns him not to relinquish it.

[375] An abridgment of _Hubert_, apparently for the sake of the metre.

[376] [i.e., Spleen, indignation.]

[377] In this line there is, in the old copy, a curious and obvious misprint: it stands in the 4^o--

"She was indeed of _London_ the honour once."

Instead of--

"She was indeed of _love_ the honour once."

The king is translating and commenting on the motto on the pendant, as is quite evident from the manner in which he proceeds. Besides, the measure requires a word of one syllable.

[378] [Old copy, _in life_.]

[379] The lords again _stand in council_ as before, while the king fills up the interval to the audience.

[380] This is probably addressed to the king, with whom Oxford has been talking.

[381] [Pox].

[382] [Old copy, _had_.]

[383] [Old copy, _hath_.]

[384] [The inn, mentioned in the former scene, must be supposed to remain, as Tenacity presently goes up to it, and knocks at the gate.]

[385] [Fired?]

[386] [Old copy, _than_.]

[387] [Wretches.]

[388] [Old copy, _Yoo_.]

[389] [Old copy. _That_.]

[390] [Dance.]

[391] [Then.]

[392] [Paltrily.]

[393] A term of contempt for a woman. The hostess has entered the kitchen of the inn in the cook's absence, and finds matters not quite satisfactory.

[394] Old copy adds, _and Dandelyne_; but it is evident from the close of the preceding scene, that the Hostess does not quit the stage.

[395] See Halliwell in v.; but the explanation there given hardly suits the present context, where the word appears to be used in the sense of _a term, a period_.

[396] Apparently part of the song; its meaning is not clear.

[397] [Reward].

[398] [Pet.]

[399] [Welcome.]

[400] [This is one of the elegant terms which are exchanged between Gammer Gurton and Mother Chat.]

[401] [Although Tom is marked in the old copy as entering at the commencement of the scene, be does not really come in till now.]

[402] [Old copy adds, _and Fortune_; but Fortune does not enter now: she is in her castle, and presently calls to Vanity from a window.]

[403] [Although it appears from what immediately follows that Vanity had assembled Fortune's vassals, we are not necessarily to conclude that the latter enter here. They would rather wait outside.]

[404] [Bull-calf.]

[405] [Orig. reads, _fat fatox_.]

[406] [This seems merely a word coined for the sake of the rhyme.]

[407] [Of courtesy.]

[408] [Swoon.]

[409] [Old copy, _net_.]

[410] [Old copy, _to emloy_.]

[411] [In the old copy this direction is given (very imperfectly) thus: _The constables make hue and cry_.]

[412] [In the old copy this passage is thus exhibited--

HOST. Where dwell these constables?

CON. Why? what's the matter, friend, I pray?

HOST. Why, thieves, man, I tell thee, come away.
Thieves, i' faith, wife, my scull, my Iacke, my browne bill.

CON. Come away quickly.

HOST. Dick, Tom, Will, ye hoorsons, make ye all ready and haste.
But let me heare, how stands the case? [_A pace after_.

Where the confusion in the distribution of the speeches seems tolerably evident. The constable made hue and cry, in order to raise the country, and make a levy of such persons as were bound to assist.

[413] [Old copy, _to_.]

[414] [Old copy, _fasting_.]

[415] [Old copy, _Yes_.]

[416] [Petition.]

[417] [Then, probably, as it certainly was later on, a favourite haunt of footpads.]

[418] [Pancras.]

[419] [No edition except that of 1662 has yet come to light.]

[420] Nobody who reads this play can doubt that it is much older than 1662, the date borne by the earliest known edition of it. It has every indication of antiquity, and the title not the least of these. "Grim, the Collier of Croydon," is a person who plays a prominent character in the humorous portion of Edwards's "Damon and Pithias," which was printed in 1571, and acted several years earlier. The Grim of the present play is obviously the same person as the Grim of "Damon and Pithias," and in both he is said to be "Collier for the king's own Majesty's mouth." Chetwood may therefore be right when he states that it was printed in 1599; but perhaps that was not the first edition, and the play was probably acted before "Damon and Pithias" had gone quite out of memory. In the office-book of the Master of the Revels, under date of 1576, we find a dramatic entertainment entered, called "The Historie of the Colyer," acted by the Earl of Leicester's men; but it was doubtless Ulpian Fulwell's "Like will to Like, quod the Devil to the Colier," printed in 1568. The structure, phraseology, versification, and language of "Grim, the Collier of Croydon," are sufficient to show that it was written before 1600: another instance to prove how much the arrangement of the plays made by Mr Reed was calculated to mislead. Some slight separate proofs of the age of this piece are pointed out in the new notes; but the general evidence is much more convincing. The versification is interlarded with rhymes like nearly all our earlier plays, and the blank verse is such as was written before Marlowe's improvements had generally been adopted. When the play was reprinted in 1662, some parts of it were perhaps a little modernised. The introduction of Malbecco and Paridell into it, from Spenser's "Faerie Queene," may be some guide as to the period when the comedy was first produced.--_Collier_. [The play has now, for the first time, been placed in its true chronological rank.]

[421] See note to "Gammer Gurton's Needle" [iii. 245].

[422] The story of this play is taken in part from Machiavel's "Belphegor."--_Pegge_.

The excellent translation of this humorous old story by Mr T. Roscoe ("Italian Novelists," ii. 272) will enable the reader to compare the play with it. He will find that in many parts the original has been abandoned, and the catastrophe, if not entirely different, is brought about by different means. The "Biographia Dramatica" informs us that Dekker's "If it be not Good the Devil is in it" is also chiefly taken from the same novel; but this is an error arising out of a hint by Langbaine. Dekker's play is the famous history of Friar Rush in many of its incidents.--_Collier_.

[423] [He was _born_ at or near Glastonbury in 925. See Wright's "Biog. Brit. Lit.," Anglo-Saxon period, p. 443, et seq.]

[424] "Legenda Aurea, or the Golden Legend," translated out of the French, and printed by Caxton in folio, 1483.

[425] In the old copy it is printed _Tortass_, but it means _portass, portesse_, or _portace_, the breviary of the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, in Greene's "Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay"--

"I'll take my _portace_ forth, and wed you here."

Spenser uses the word, "Faerie Queene," b. i. c. iv.--

"And in his hand his _portesse_ still he bare
That much was worne," &c.

See also note to "New Custom" [iii. 24].--_Collier_.

[426] [Old copy and former edits., _Dunston's_.]

[427] See the story of Malbecco in Spenser's "Faerie Queene," b. iii. c. ix., &c.

[428] The old copy has it _reap_, but probably we ought to read _heap_; to _reap an endless catalogue_ is hardly sense.--_Collier_.

[429] _Cleped_ is _called, named_. So in Milton's "L'Allegro," i. 11--

"But come, thou goddess fair and free,
In heaven _yclep'd_ Euphrosyne."