Chapter XXXIV: Introduction: To Nathaniel Whiting (5)

Their table with rich damask cloths was spread, 3690
Whose every twist outvied the double cable,
The napkins diaper, of equal thread,
The mourning trenchers clothèd were in sable.
A curious salt cut out o' th' boulder stone--
And for their plate--sincerely there was none.

The dropsied host like to a sew'r did strut,
To marshal every dish; and first did bring
A spacious bowl, to scour the narrow gut,
Of nut brown ale, a liquor for a king.
And says, 'My Bona Roba, drink this bowl, 3700
'Twill clear thy throat, and cheer thy drooping soul.'

Next came the mumping hostess and set down
A lusty dish of milk--sky-coloured blue,
Crumbed with the ludgets of the lusty brown,
Which two months since was piping hot and new;
'Yet 'tis', says she, 'as savoury in good law
As wheaten trash which crams the ladies' maw.'

This good old crone was troubled so with wind,
Her coats did dance to th' music of her belly.
Next came a barley dumpling whose harsh rind 3710
Was oilèd o'er with a fine tallow jelly
Brought by a mincing Marget, passing trim,
Whose juicy nose did make the pudding swim.

Next came some glotrah (which the ploughman flanks
Joined with a pudding on a holy day)
Brought by a jetting dame, on whom in ranks
And discipline of state whole troops did stray
Of--I forbear to say, lest these rude feet
With queasy dames and lady readers meet.

Last, a tough cheese must lock the stomach's door, 3720
Milked from a cow that fed on naught but burrs,
Had lain five winters on [a] spongy floor,
To gain an harness and a coat of furs;
So neatly peopled too, 'twas judg'd a court,
Such herds of gentles did about it sport.

Qualmish Bellama could not eat a bit,
'Cause luscious meats a surfeit soon provoke.
Albino vent'red but was fain to spit,
Lest those harsh viands should his monkship choke.
And whilst he hawkèd, and Bellama laugh'd, 3730
The trumping hostess stole a thumping draught.

'Are you so dainty-toothèd,' quoth mine host,
'That country victuals will not down with you?
You shall be fed with custards, pies, and roast.
Cannot your chops a boneless pudding chew?
I trow far worser is than this your fare,
Unless you kitchen-sculls and lick-spits are.'

'Ma' gep ma' faw,' the crabbèd hostess said,
'Let 'em e'en fast if they'll not eat their soul.
Is not my daughter Maudge as fine a maid? 3740
And yet by mack you see she trolls the bowl.
I've dressed a supper sure has pleasèd those,
Had wider purses far, and better clothes.'

'Pray, mother, 'gainst the young mon do not rage,'
Says full-lipped Madge, 'for he must be your son.
We are alike in face, of equal age;
Then ho! the match is soon concluded on.
Kuss me, my honest Dick, for we this night
With crickle crackle will the goblins fright.'

'Mass,' says mine host, 'I like the fellow well. 3750
To suckle bairns I'll give him tidy mull,
And my brown mare as sound as any bell,
With ten good shear-hogs to afford him wool,
And, if they please me, after me they shall
Sell nappy yale within this trusty wall.'

'Feck,' says mine hostess, 'they shall have a bed
With good strong sheets to pig together in,
A brazen pot, a kettle, and a lead,
Platters, bowls, pails, and an old kilderkin.
And if they please m' a brace of wheels to spin 3760
Mantles and clouts to wrap their bantlings in.'

Our lovers at this pretty talk did smile,
Then says Albino 'Here is no such haste,
I like: but yet we'll respite it a while,
Thou shall be, duck, some three nights longer chaste.
I'll man my sister at day's next attiring,
Then back and give my Maudge a curtain spring.'

When as his yielding had appeased the billows
Of their loud passions, and their meat digested,
Night's middle age invited to their pillows, 3770
But tell I dare not how the lovers rested,
Whether co-sheeting was allowed as fit,
Monastic vows dispensing well with it.

But this I say, there was but one guest-room,
Hanged with a pentice cloth spoke age enough;
The spiders here had one continued loom:
Here rats and mice did play at blind man's blough.
Their bed had many tasters, but no tester,
Their bedding ushered in thin-sided Easter.

Repentant mattress for chastising Lent, 3780
Stout as a face of steel, which ne'er will yield;
Their sheets were tenants, weekly payed rent,
The pillow was with juice of noddles steeled,
And therefore fit to bolster any sin.
Their coverlet was of a bullock's skin.

Their urine vessel was of Ticknall make,
Whose inside was with unshorn vellet clad.
Their bedstead floated in a springing lake
Where frogs and newts their rendezvouses had.
This was their guest-bed, and there was no other, 3790
Think you Bellama then lodged with her brother?

No: such pure virtues saint Bellama's breast,
And such clear sparks of honour heat his soul,
That such a thought would stain her virgin crest,
And blur the sacreds of Albino's roll.
Then die, black thoughts! Bellama's chaste denials
Repelled all charms of love and Venice-trials.

Nay, he ne'er tempted, nor attempted once
To scale the fortress of her virgin-tower,
For her chaste noes and vows did guard the sconce, 3800
That 'twas impregnable, not forced by power.
And, though he did ensphere her naked waist,
Yet durst my faith and oath conclude her chaste.

This longing on Albino worked so strong,
That, when the god of slumbers did entreat
Him to his court, into his thoughts did throng
His house of penance, hunger, cold and sweat.
So powerful was his dream entruthed with fear,
That his strong faith concluded he was there.

And in some sort he was, for when the East 3810
Was purpled with the blushes of the morn,
When his benumbèd senses were released
By the shrill sound of Gallus' bugle horn--
He heard a sound of words, and looking out,
He saw a legion of the monkish rout.

For you must know that, when Albino's wit
Had won him freedom, and Conrado thrall,
The jealous matron somewhat fearèd it,
And the next morning did 'Conrado' call,
Who (brooking ill his lodging) struck with fear, 3820
Made answer to the matron's question, 'Here'.

So, when her eyes suspicion truth had made,
She asked Conrado how that came to pass,
Quoth he, 'Credulity my fear o'erswayed,
I was deluded with the dukedom lass.
She promised me a dukedom for my pains,
And I, poor I, thought it sufficient gains!'

'Ha!' quoth the matron, 'could thy falsehood serve
Thus to dishonour me, and all my train?
His penalty is thine; till every nerve 3830
Shrink up with famine, thou shalt here remain.
Time will not measure years ere thou wilt say,
A dukedom for thy penance is no pay.'

'Madam,' quoth he, 'my senses were bewitchèd
With that pure white which dwelt upon her brow;
I scratched and pinched, but still my humours itchèd,
I stood upright, but still my heart did bow.
Who would not twice ten minutes in a brook
Chin-high and thirsty stand, to be a duke?'

Quoth she, 'I see that folly oversways, 3840
And Venus sovereign is of every sect.
To beauty every order homage pays,
Whilst only age and blackness gain neglect.
I 'xcuse thy frailty--haste unto thy dell--
The sentence of Felice's flight repell.'

Conrado thanked her, and away did pack
(As one reprievèd from the gallow tree
Still fearing that stern justice plucked him back)
Lest, Janus-like, her face should changèd be.
For well he knew the monthly hornèd queen 3850
No oft'ner fills her orb than she her spleen.

He Nature blamed, he could no faster run;
But, coming to the gate, the porter oped,
Who, much appalled to see a youthful nun,
Says, 'Mistress, do you travel to be coped?
Give me my fee: for sure, a plump-cheeked lass
Shall not the porter's lodge unkissèd pass.'

He could not quiet his impatient lust
Till he had shown the ensigns of his habit;
His parèd crown, with Venus' rays adust, 3860
Then left the mongrel his supposèd rabbit,
And slinked away from his monastic veil,
Just like a dog that newly burnt his tail.

When he had cast his woman, and put on
The habit of his order, he made haste
Unto his lord, told him Felice's gone,
And that his conscience did conclude her chaste.
'She Folco's large endowments must inherit,
And promised me to recompense my merit.'

The prior, smiling at his folly, checked 3870
Him for Apella's faith, and said his lass
Was young Albino in nun-vestments decked.
'(If that our porter had his double glass),
And since thy coming cleareth every doubt,
Harness yourselves to seek the younker out.'

As the attendants of an hunting prince,
Intending to disfrank an o'ergrown boar,
View the impressions of his feet, which, since
Last eve, were printed on the sandy shore,
Beating each bush, and in each cabin searching 3880
To find his frank, and not the pheasants perching.

And as when Reynald, with his wily plot,
Into the squadron of the geese is crept,
And grandsire Gander on his back has got,
Th' affrighted geese, like them which watch-tow'rs kept,
With shrill-toned gabblings wake the slumb'ring towns,
By Phoebe's candle to go seek the downs--

Some arm themselves with spits, one with a ladle,
Some snatch up pickforks, one a bill or knife.
The ambling nurse runs out and leaves the cradle, 3890
And the awed midwife flies the teeming wife;
Old grandsire greybeard his tuff bilbo gets,
And grandame Grissel with her distaff jets.

Just so our hair-lack monks pursued their quest,
Searched for his view, and threaded every grove
With bells, beads, books, and holy water blest,
And armed with envy's whips about did rove,
Their runagado Reynald to surprise,
And came to Stean ere the sun could rise.

Which sight unspirited Albino quite, 3900
That his invention could not teem a plot;
For in his looks his fear was writ in white,
And to his heart his frighted blood did trot.
Yet, calling courage to appear o' th' stage,
He sheathed his body in his woven cage.

Then hasting to the host, bade him awake,
Desired his counsel and assisting hand,
Says now his life and safety lay at stake.
For, at his door, a troop of shavelings stand.
'I am their errand: I must bid adieu 3910
To lovely Maudge, mine hostess, and to you.'

'Ho!' quoth mine host, and rubbed his gummy eyes,
'What says my son? Must thou be whirled away?
I warrant, boy, my club shall still their cries,
When 'bout their costards I shall make it play.
I'll dye their stark-nak'd crowns with their own blood,
Then let 'em come if that they think it good.'

'Good Sickerlin,' says Maudge, 'ere they shall have
My honey-sweeten Dick, I'll scratch and bite,
With scalding water I'll their noddles shave; 3920
Then buss me Dick, thy Maudge will for thee fight.'
'Thanks,' quoth he, 'duck, but yet it cannot be
That thy endeavours should advantage me.

But yet methinks I see some comfort dawn:
Yon tinker's budget strengthens every joint.
Send me some clothes by time's harsh grinders gnawn,
And I will be a tinker in each point.
My sister must have rags; and be my trull.
Thus veiled and clothed we will the shavelings gull.'

Accoutred in these robes of state, he made 3930
His face and hands in sooty vestures mourn.
Then waked Bellama, who was sore afraid
To see a tinker, and away does turn.
But grasping only air she shrilly cried,
'Art fled, Albino, from thy sweetheart's side?'

Which words, so shrilly spoke, made Echo babble;
Who, winged with envy, out o' th' window flies,
Carries 'Albino' to the monkish rabble,
They, hearing that, Perduers made their eyes
And, swelled with rage, against the door did knock, 3940
Whose aged breast could not endure the shock.

This stroke Albino's heart did almost break,
Yet bids Bellama sheath her body in
These homely rags, which only safety speak.
'Care not for coarseness, so they hide the skin,
And at this tinker's habit do not wonder,
'Tis but the curtain thy Albino's under.'

'What tipsied fellows at my door do beat
Thus early,' quoth mine host, 'is this your manners?
What? must mine hostess wait upon th' entreat 3950
Of tailors, cobblers, carpenters, and tanners?
If drinking be your errand, where ye got
Your last night's fuddling-cap, this morning trot.'

Impatient they did make the door unhinge,
Which gave an entrance to enraged Bardino.
He to the reverend host did lowly cringe,
Told him his errand was to seek Albino.
And as they did his homely cottage hem,
Albino's name came leaping unto them.

'Ho!' quoth mine host, 'unto mine house there came, 3960
Last night for lodging, a stout tinker knave,
Who now is ticking with his ragged dame.
Go, if with him ye any business have;
But who Albino is I cannot tell.
Here's no sike mon does penance in my cell.'

Into the arras-ceilèd parlour then,
The copesters went, in every corner snooked,
The tinker's visage none of them did ken,
But for Albino on Albino looked.
Well might he cozen them, whenas his saint 3970
Knew not his face under that mask of paint.

Then as they searchèd every place by chance
Conrado did his monkish vestments own
He lent Felice at their affiance.
The host, perceiving that the clothes were known,
Said, 'Yesterday, about the after three,
A fellow came and pawned those clothes to me.'

They asked Bellama then why she did call
Upon Albino. 'Why, forsooth,' said she,
'I was a servant once in Darwey Hall, 3980
Where that young monk I oftentimes did see;
Who oft in private would disport with me,
And promised that I should his sweeting be.

But, by misfortune being turned away,
This jovial tinker took me unto wife,
So, as this morn by his warm side I lay,
I of Albino dreamed--my joy, my life.'
'He's not thy mon,' quoth Maudge; 'thou li'st, base drab':
'Peace, housewife,' says mine host, 'you tattling blab.'

Thus had the scene been changed, had not the sire 3990
Suppressed her babblings with a check and grin.
The monks, well satisfied, gang to the fire
To taste the juice of Kate's old kilderkin.
The tinker and mine host would always cry,
'Fill, hostess, fill! the monks are still a-dry.'

_Canzone._

Drink full ones, tinker, methinks the monks are dry,
Drink healths, mine host, the monks do fear a thirst.
Are the monks thirsty? the monks will quickly try
If they or the tinker want a pillow first.
Else will we jig and hay unto the black pot's sound, 4000
Till to that music the house shall dance the round.

Then fill a dozen, hostess, we'll have a merry cup,
And make the tinker forfeit his budget and his brass.
'Faith,' says the tinker, 'I'll make your monkships sup
Till ye sing requiems in reading of the mass.'
Then fill a gallon, hostess, we'll health it all about,
Till all complain o' th' headache, the falling, or the gout.

Come on, dropping shavelings, let's see you count your beads,
I am half afraid you'll stutter in the mass.
Gramercy, lovely pots, and nimble Ganymedes, 4010
That brought more water than what holy was.
Well, saucy tinker, well, pray finger you your brass,
And let the monks alone, 'lone, they'll finger well the mass.

Pray, Gaffer Cowlists, why are ye so bald
To cool your _pia maters_ in a sweat?
Or did the water your wise noddles scald,
Which your devotions and hot zeal did heat?
Or are ye given unto Venus play?
I am afraid there went the hair away.

But base Bardino did this mirth eclipse 4020
(In his monastic life Albino's friend),
Viewing the travail of his hand, his lips,
He, by a secret mark, Albino kenned.
For, by some strange mishap, was set a brand,
An azure spot upon his abler hand.

Says he, 'Methinks you are too frolic, tinker,
Your mirth I fear presageth your disgrace,
You must no longer be mine hostess' skinker,
For you will say, unless y' have brazed your face--
That you both see and do Albino know: 4030
If you deny 't, I have your hand to show.

During the time that you were cowled and coped,
On your right hand there dwelt a cerule mark,
Which ne'er would off, although 'twas often soaped.'
'Well,' quoth mine host, 'but pray your worship, hark,
May not two men be like? may there not be
The selfsame spot of him, and you, and me?'

This could not yet appease Bardino's hate,
Still teeming mischief, and with envy big;
So, starting up, he fumed, and loud did prate, 4040
And snatchèd off Albino's periwig.
Now 'gainst two witnesses he could not stand,
Whenas his head bore witness with his hand.

Albino excused, it was by nature so,
Saying no razor e'er did touch his skull.
'No,' says Bardino, 'it again does grow;
Thou canst not with this fop my wisdom gull.
Keep him, my brethren, and meanwhile I will
Fetch the watch-beggar and his rusty bill.'

Bellama did meanwhile what language can, 4050
With oilèd words and pity-pleading tears,
Beseeching these to free her weddèd man.
But to her voice they cottoned had their ears,
Until an Angel did appear unto them,
And with his goldy looks and music woo them.

Then did they yield to let them go away,
And they meantime would feign a deading sleep.
They for a second licence would not stay,
But hasting out along the ditches creep.
And as they went a raddle-man they meet, 4060
Whom with kind airs and highway phrase they greet.

And, greeting past, Albino did require
To change apparel with him, and his trade,
Giving him cash to hasten his desire.
'With all my heart,' the raddle-younker said
(Ne'er questioning the cause); 'yet, by the mass,
My dames will say I am a podging ass.'

Thus changed they clothes and budgets: then with lead
On the new tinker's hand Albino made
A mark like his, to gull his envious bead. 4070
With raddle-crimson then, fit for his trade,
He clothed his face, and gave Bellama some,
So trudged away, for fear the monk should come.

Have you beheld a hound in sudden fright,
Whom powder feared, or else the staff did beat,
How oft he turns, and looks, yet keeps on flight?
So they, with glancing eyes, would oft retreat,
Yet movèd forward still as in a ship
The pilots backward look, yet forward skip.

But our new tinker, swellèd with content, 4080
Fearing no colours, to the town did pass,
Crying, as he along the hamlet went,
'Ha y' any need ho! of a tinker's brass?'
Bardino now returned in a chafe,
And ask'd the tinker's name, who answer'd, 'Rafe.'

'Where dwell'st thou?' 'Anywhere?' 'How long
Hast tink'ring used?' 'I cannot tell.'
Then 'bout the tinker all the monks did throng,
Whilst he, poor fellow, thought h' had been in hell.
For till that day he never saw such creatures, 4090
And what they were he knew not by their features.

Bardino fearèd this was but a gull,
And says, 'Good fellow, let me see thy hand.'
'I'm not asham'd to show 't, by cock and bull.'
Bardino, viewing 't well, espied the brand,
And says, 'Sir youth, before you cozened me:
But now in sooth I will be meet with thee.'

'Devil or friar, whatsoe'er thou art,
What taunting language dost thou give to me?
Ha!' quoth the tinker. Quoth Bardino, 'Smart 4100
Shall give a comment of my words to thee.'
'Smart?' quoth the tinker. 'Swig for Smart and you:
I bid defiance unto all thy crew.

Talk not to me of Smart: for if you prate
This knotty staff shall bastinado you.
I'll set a scarlet cap upon thy pate,
And lace thy shoulders with a purple blue.'
'Peace, honest tinker,' say the other monks.
'Aye! I will peace it, if I catch the hunks.'

But let the monks and tinker take their chances. 4110
We'll view the travels of our raddle-man,
With faint Bellam', whom every fear entrances,
And every trance does make her roses wan.
Thus far their loves have tragi-comic been,
Thwarted by Fate and the unconstant Queen.

But every planet with kind aspect now
Views their long-travelled loves; and Venus' boy
Smiles on their wishes with auspicious brow.
Now a full harvest must they have of joy,
Though sowed with black disasters, dangers, fears, 4120
Dispair, hope, doubtings, sad complaints, and tears.

For aged Starley's tow'rs (that fatal stage
Where Danes did act their juries once in blood,
When bellowing cannons belchèd out their rage)
Within the kenning of our lovers stood.
And the well-tunèd bells did loud proclaim
Joy to the lovers in great Hymen's name.

A near ally Albino in this town
(By order a devout Carthusian) had,
Whose voice he hoped with joy their loves should crown. 4130
But he, a slave in raddle vestures clad
And a ragged Marget seeing, started back,
Bidding his knaveship to some other pack.

He would have no commerce with such as he,
He had no ewes whose backs did want his raddle,
And if he over-saucy needs would be,
With a good bat he would his gaskins swaddle.
'The Provost Marshal else, if this does fail,
Shall show you lodging in the whipstock jail.'

This language sounded in Bellama's ears 4140
Like the sad voice of death, yet fear no slaughter.
To joy straight changed shall be this scene of tears,
And stead of grief the child of pleasure, laughter.
My promise stands unshaked: for this short anger
Brings not their loves nor safeties unto danger.

'Sir,' quoth Albino, 'there was once a time
When you esteemed those wingèd minutes sainted
You spent with me (when Fortune was in prime),
For you and I have better been acquainted;
Though some disasters and stern Fate have made 4150
Me take this homely garb and homelier trade.

Some blood which in your azure channels glide
Dwells in my veins: I am Albino hight,
And lest you think this smells too much of pride,
View this triangle on my able right.'
That sight unto rejoicings beat alarms,
His kinsman then ensphered him in his arms.

So led them both under his archèd roof,
Breathing kind welcomes from his courteous lips;
Excus'd his ignorance and sharp reproof, 4160
Asked what misfortune did his worth eclipse.
Demanding how coy Fortune dealt with him,
And who she was that was so passing trim?

'Unless high heavens do forbid the bane,
This maid shall be my bride, though homely dressed;
Clothes oftentimes the purest beauty stain,
And Venus most unclothed is clothèd best.
Under this roof of rags Bellama dwells,
Fraught with diviner worth than nature spells.'

'Hymen enrich your wishes with content, 4170
As benign heaven has enriched your face
With nature's glory, beauty's orient,'
Says the Carthusian with a comely grace;
'Thrice welcome! welcome! for your lovely grace
Will add a lustre to my homely place.'

'Sir, my endeavours shall be wholly spent
Henceforth,' quoth she, 'to recompense your air.'
'This is no time, forsooth, to compliment,
Prithee adjourn thy words of courtship, fair,
For till our hands be joined as well as hearts 4180
I fear', quoth he, 'supplanting Envy's darts.

Good cousin, ere the next day's sun be rolled
Th' Apogaeum, our meridian point,
Favour our wishes with the "have and hold".
Tie us so fast fate may not us disjoint.
For Envy, like a snake, does crawl about,
And winds her tail in where she holes her snout.

Omit no nuptial rites; with holy oil
Let her anoint the posts, with virgin hand
To Janus consecrate the wether's spoil, 4190
And to those gods which for our households stand,
Procure horn torches to be borne along,
And cry "Thalassus!" with a bridal song.

Provide me store of nuts to throw about
With a full hand unto the gaping boys,
That from the tumults of the struggling rout
All voices may be damped that speak not joys.
Over us two let the same Flamine fall,
And let the wheaten cake consummate all.

Nor will we manumiss these robes of state, 4200
Within whose walls blest safety only dwells.
Lest our known faces, and apparel, prate
In louder echoes than the marriage bells.
Then say, fair lady, truth I do not jeer,
Will you be wedded to a scarleteer?'

Quoth she, with blushes carpeting her cheek,
'And is that question, prithee, yet to ask?
Your worth does merit the unequalled Greek,
Without nun-penance or Alcides' task.
Then [I] pray you (in truth it is no gull) 4210
Will you be married to a tinker's trull?'

Thus sleep and mirth did cut the night: and ere
The sovereignty was ta'en from Cynthia's horn,
When at East's casement newly did appear
The orient brightness of the rising morn,
Albino rose, and to the church did haste
T' un-nun Bellama and ungird her waist.

When the Carthusian's voice had crowned their amours
With an assurance of Thalassian joys,
The air was thinnèd with the joyful clamours 4220
(Not of state-satins) but of grammar boys;
And our fresh sponsants in that height of mirth
To every pleasure gave an easy birth.

Now are they landed on the isle of bliss,
Where every joy courts their desires with pleasure;
Envy did then her snaky train dismiss,
For their espousals did all sweet entreasure.
Dead grief bequeathed her stings to thorn and thistle.
Nor durst a sigh within those borders whistle.

Then, as sea-merchants when their reeling galley, 4230
Drunk with salt Neptune, hazardeth their breaths,
To calm bold tempest and the Triton's valley,
Hack on the quiet shore their brackèd sheaths,
So did our amorists, half wrack'd with eye-men,
Devote their raddle vests to Love and Hymen.

Some marrow-lancing eye perchance may quarrel,
'Cause with the bridal torch my muse expires;
And in loud jeers his tow'ring voice apparel,
Taxing the faintness of my metric fires,
Because my lines tread not the common path 4240
Of fortune, issue, and appeasing wrath.

Perhaps I dare not lengthen out my story
With those events succeeding time begot,
Lest some disaster should eclipse their glory,
And the pure ermines of their pleasures spot.
For having screwed them into firm embraces,
I will not waken hate or rouse disgraces.

Yet beauty (know) when virtue shines upon her,
And virtues (know) [when] skin-perfections gloss 'em,
Awe Fortune's wrath, and challenge heaven's honour. 4250
Hell cannot cancel them, nor Envy dross 'em.
Love! if to me the same content thou'lt yield,
I'll limn thy mother on Minerva's shield.

Notes: The Pleasing History of _Albino_ and _Bellama_

[Line: 6 In which of the various fancy _Bruts_ 'Adell' occurs
I am not at the moment certain. Brydges, I suppose, deceived
by _Don_ Fuco, &c., oddly 'places the scene in Spain'.]

[Line: 15 age of consistency] = 'grow tired of existing
together'--a Whitingism almost _Brownist_ in character.]

[Line: 25 'Agathite'] 'Agath' is a form of 'agate': is
'agathite' a coinage suggested by the blending of colours in
the agate?]

[Line: 27 Saba] The Queen of Sheba.]

[Line: 50 rein] Orig. 'veine'. But it must, as the little
Errata paragraph at the end admits, be 'rein'. All this may be
extravagant, but it is poetry.]

[Line: 61 'The curlèd tapers of the firmament' is not exactly
contemptible, I fancy.]

[Line: 66 Whiting must certainly have known his Shakespeare.
'Crisp' appears there nowhere as a noun, but its use here must
almost certainly have been suggested by the '_crisp_ heaven'
of _Timon_, iv. iii. 183. 'Spang' is Baconian, and not
uncommon.]

[Line: 70 Orig. has 'Lady Curtain' and no 'this'--a state of
things which led me quite wrong at first.]

[Line: 126 _Ven_-Bacchus] Venus-Bacchus?]

[Lines: 131-2 I have ventured to suggest 'mendings' for these
exceedingly gappy lines.]

[Line: 148 knee] This is the correction in the _errata_ of
'tener'.]

[Line: 149 bean-manors] = Manors held at a bean instead of a
peppercorn? Or misprint for 'bea_u_-manors'? This latter, for
'Beaumanor' is a known name, and Beaumanoir a better, would be
quite like Whiting. My friend Sir Frederick Pollock, to whom I
appealed after a question whether 'bene' in a legal sense
was possible, decided that the phrase could have no technical
meaning either as 'bean' or 'bene', but suggested 'rents'.
This makes excellent sense, but is not, perhaps, on that
account more likely here.]

[Line: 211 Sable] Any black-coated man of letters.]

[Line: 212 Adel's stamps] I suppose, the coin of the realm.]

[Line: 219 A Master of Arts ought to have known better than to
make 'Thule' mono-syllabic, though the general public used
to pronounce it so in reference to a once popular book of the
late Mr. William Black's.]

[Line: 259 trutinate] = 'balance'. Don Fuco also had
apparently enjoyed the advantages of a classical education.]

[Line: 275 'Indod' like 'adad', and many other forms of
corrupted evasion of the Third Commandment.]

[Lines: 290-1 Tennyson is known to have been no inconsiderable
reader, but he can hardly have known this parody--by
anticipation--of a famous line in _[OE]none_.]

[Line: 295 trencher-cloaks] cut short? '_Re_cognizance' is
again, if not exactly Shakespearian, not far off.]

[Line: 309 Here 'blough' is certainly in the sense of
'muffle', and therefore gives a light on the use _supra_
(_Author's Apology_, l. 5).]

[Line: 322 Why this fling at Skelton's exceedingly pretty
verses to Isabel Pennel I do not in the least know.]

[Line: 327 Tripherus] See Juvenal, _Sat._ xi. 137.]

[Line: 394 Orig. 'phrentezy'.]

[Line: 418 entrails] Orig. 'intrals'. Not a very common form,
but justified by the Low Latin _intralia_.]

[Lines: 421-4 There is a reference to Drayton's _Nymphidia_,
where Oberon and Pigwiggen drink from a 'bottell' of 'Lethe
spring', and forget their quarrel. For a further reference to
this poem, see l. 1420.]

[Line: 465 'breath'. A seventeenth-century form.]

[Line: 489 I have kept 'ante' because I do not know whether it
is for 'aunt' or 'ant'. Neither seems to give much sense.]

[Line: 500 There is certainly a long _s_ in original, and
'sore-head' is intelligible, but 'forehead' would go better
with 'flag'.]

[Line: 537 Whiting, for all his extravagance, triviality, and
so forth, has occasionally an odd gift of phrase. 'Pandora was
not treasured up in faces' is an instance.]

[Line: 538 possessing elves] = 'The actual possessors'.]

[Line: 541 The maid] Thisbe, I suppose, though there is
nothing to separate her from other maids that 'sat in
Babylon'.]

[Line: 551 peevish girl] Scylla.]

[Lines: 569-70 See Ovid _Met._ I. 523.]

[Line: 591 coarse] Orig. 'course', as so often.]

[Line: 600 'gales' = rents, or royalties, in reference to the
earl's land.]

[Line: 639 Orig. 'phillits'.]

[Line: 648 I have left 'croe' because I do not know whether it
stands for 'crew' or (as above) 'crow' = 'knocker'.]

[Line: 651 angel-looks] = 'those of a messenger'.]

[Line: 668 'vermilion looks' suggests Dryden's 'church
vermilion', but that would have no sense in the context.]

[Line: 677 Serrat] Our Lady of Montserrat? Why St. Katherine
should have a specially flaxen wig is another of the posers
occurring so constantly. But after all why should she _not_?]

[Line: 748 The author, from several signs, must have written
this odd poem in no small haste. But he must indeed have been
in a hurry when, as would here seem, he confounded 'casket'
and 'carcanet'. Cf. l. 953.]

[Line: 757 Some word like 'talking' is wanted here.]

[Line: 748 The author, from several signs, must have written
this odd poem in no small haste. But he must indeed have been
in a hurry when, as would here seem, he confounded 'casket'
and 'carcanet'. Cf. l. 953.]

[Line: 757 Some word like 'talking' is wanted here.]

[Line: 822 I suppose 'flazing' (the original) is only a
misprint for 'flaring'; but with Whiting you can never be
quite sure.]

[Line: 829 Orig. 'archy-'.]

[Line: 834 Orig. 'weekes', as in Spenser, _F. Q._ ii. x. 30,
2.]

[Line: 844 'boat-boy'? Phaon who is mentioned ll. 3582 foll.,
and whose later stage of beauty might entitle him to complete
his quintet with his 'fare' Venus, Helen, and Narcissus.]

[Line: 862 'the poet'. Horace in _Odes_, III. xix. 11-15.]

[Line: 904 en-neale] Whiting has used this word before,
l. 191, but less oddly. It seems here to mean 'portray
indelibly', 'preserve as in mosaic or enamel'. Cf. l. 1521.]

[Line: 918 Butler, as Brydges noticed, must surely have seen
this.]

[Line: 920 That 'Prior' is usual and sufficient did not matter
to Whiting: he wanted three syllables and an easy rhyme, so he
made what he wanted.]

[Line: 953 This line settles the question (_v. sup._, l. 748)
as to Whiting's confusion of 'casket' and 'carcanet'. It
is even possible to guess at the cause--the original French
_carcan_, 'a prisoner's chain', 'prison' suggesting 'place of
confinement'.]

[Line: 975 'Archy-' in original as before. The use of the
French corresponding form 'archi-' instead of the English
'arch-' is probably not accidental.]

[Line: 987 The sharp change here from the straightforward
'frosts' &c. to this ellipse of 'as [that] he [should] want'
is noticeable.]

[Lines: 989-90 Another Dryden suggestion. The improvement in

O daughter of the Rose, whose cheeks unite
The differing titles of the red and white,

is of course immense. But Cambridge poets have always had a
laudable habit of reading each other, and _Albino and Bellama_
was not such a very old poem when Dryden went up.]

[Line: 998 Original, ridiculously enough, '_a_ A perc_ee_'!
I think Whiting's is the worst printed book of the scores, if
not hundreds, I have read for this collection.]

[Line: 1004 It is delightful to think how the persons who were
shortly to hold Cleveland for a greatest living poet must have
enjoyed this metaphysical translation of 'He kissed her when
nobody was looking'!]

[Line: 1027 'Venice' for 'glass'--'ice'. As I have said,
you may do almost anything you like to Whiting in the way of
interpretation.]

[Line: 1058 So, again, I suppose 'vowel-plasters' means 'vocal
pleadings', but I should not dare to be certain.]

[Line: 1068 'Teen', as more than once annotated, = 'light'; so
eight lines lower.]

[Line: 1081 Of the numerous shades of the word 'baulk',
'parry' or 'foil' comes nearest here]

[Line: 1084 are] 'or' in the original.]

[Line: 1086 'Chester'] = 'he who chests'--and why not?]

[Line: 1112 The metaphors as well as the bloods are something
mixed: but again, why not?]

[Line: 1130 Although 'toll' was never (and then less than
now) confined to funerals Whiting had better have used another
word.]

[Line: 1155 'Anchorist', is at any rate better than
'Priorist'. Fuller used it later.]

[Line: 1172 If Bellama, who indeed seems to have been an
outspoken young lady, had regarded manners in regard to her
love as little as Agamemnon in regard to his wife, she might
have told him that his verses were rather long.]

[Line: 1211 satonisco]? Form of 'satin', unknown elsewhere.]

[Line: 1214 'frank', again Shakespearian, is of course
proper to the boar only; but Whiting did not regard invidious
distinctions.]

[Line: 1244 There is, of course, not the slightest
justification for 'rosy', but our poet was _supra_ not merely
_grammaticam_ but _vocabularium_ and everything else.]

[Line: 1271 An odd and rather awkward metaphor.]

[Line: 1294 Orig. 'quoth she'--but, of course, Albino is the
speaker.]

[Line: 1306 Does 'wretch_ing_' occur elsewhere? 'Wretch' as
a verb is quoted, but only as Scots, and only in the sense
of 'be miserly'. Whiting, though not muddle-headed, was so
feather-headed in the use of words that one must take into
account the possibility of '_r_etching', i.e. 'vomiting
blasphemy', and can hardly neglect as _im_possible a careless
confusion with 'wretch_less_, = 'reckless'.]

[Line: 1340 The poet changes number from 'nips' to 'uncrown'
with his usual lightness of heart.]

[Line: 1376 Cf. Ps. xlvi. 9, 'Knappeth the spear in sunder'.]

[Lines: 1420-4 This is a reference to Drayton's _Nymphidia_,
where Hob searches for the Fairy Queen, who has gone off with
Pigwiggen (cf. ll. 421-4).--It will he observed that, as in
the case of Kingsley's hero, 'the party is taken ill with a
poem' on every provocation.]

[Line: 1432 We want 'Daffa-down_a_-dillies'.]

[Line: 1442 An Alexandrine: not as yet common in the piece.]

[Line: 1450 'ermelin', with its equivalents, is rather the
commoner form in all mediaeval languages.]

[Line: 1461 _Carduus benedictus_]

[Line: 1519 Why 'Irish' who can say? The only sensible remark
which presents itself on this piece of nonsense (I have not,
of course, attempted to alter the gibberish in any way) is
that dialect seems to have been increasing its hold on popular
fancy off the stage, as well as in Brome's _Northern Lass_,
&c. on it.]

[Line: 1521 Here 'en-nealed' throws its light backward on the
use _supra_ (l. 904) as simply 'enamelled'.]

[Line: 1539 vit] 'vil' in original.]

[Line: 1558 Orig. 'choyce'; but this must be one of the
innumerable misprints which the Errata paragraph treats so
cavalierly.]

[Line: 1559 For novel] = 'as a novelty'?]

[Line: 1561 Orig. '_s_eiling'--the _s_ being common (though,
of course, wrong) earlier as well as at this time.]

[Line: 1569 Orig. 'guilt'.]

[Line: 1602 'coven' in this sense should be 'covent', but
Whiting affects the form: see 2686, 3167.]

[Line: 1615 A sufficiently mysterious line.]

[Line: 1645 Orig. 'Volgo's'.]

[Line: 1714 Query, 'If satin's difference can maids adorn'.]

[Line: 1716 'fligger' has a certain dialectic sense of
'flutter', and as its congener 'flicker' has one of 'snigger',
'jeer', it probably has that here.]

[Line: 1745 dors] = 'bumblebees'--somewhat unworthily yoked.]

[Line: 1750 The extraordinary double plural of 'females fairs'
(orig. 'fair_e_s') would seem impossible in any other author.
Perhaps 'female', but the rhyme requires 'fairs'.]

[Line: 1784 'Sh'as'] A no doubt unintentional compelling of
the apostrophe to do double duty.]

[Line: 1844 Whiting was apparently more fashionable in his
astronomy than Bacon or Browne.]

[Line: 1863 The slang use of 'dust' is found in Wilkins's
_Miseries of Enforced Marriage_. 1607, 'Come, down with
your dust'. One would be disposed to think it a parallel
to 'dross', &c.--terms contemptuous of money, but generally
employed by those who have not got it.]

[Line: 1865 dealth] I suppose this is another of Whiting's
many inventions. Cf. _Il Insonio_, 347.]

[Line: 1873 Orig. 'everts', which must be wrong.]

[Line: 1882 Orig. 'phrentick'. This middle form between
'fren_e_tic' and 'fr_a_ntic' is M. E. (for instance, in
Langland), but is not, I think, common later.]

[Line: 1883 pargèd] This is one of Whiting's redeeming
vividnesses. The verb is, of course, the same as 'parget'--'to
plaster or distemper'. Cf. _Il Insonio_, 73.]

[Line: 1911 Whether 'buzzled' is 'bustled' or 'buzzed' I am
not sure. Cf. _Il Insonio_, 107. 'He buzzles like a bustard in
a wind'.]

[Line: 1930 Orig. 'Bagno's'.]

[Line: 1931 for] Not quite impossible, but unlikely. 'Fore'?]

[Line: 1945 'cowlist' may raise a doubt as to the passage
_supra, The Author to his Book_, l. 58.]

[Line: 1959 I suppose 'eighteen hooks' means hooks to catch
persons eighteen years old. But for cautions against being too
sure Whiting is sovereign.]

[Line: 1965 'drilling' for 'trickling' we had before.]

[Line: 1969 'tamm[e]y's (as in original). Still a word for
coarse cloth.]

[Line: 1984 Once more, if 'jen-_net_' is superfluous and you
cannot think of any rhyme but 'Bennet' why not overrun?]

[Line: 1995 b_l_anched?] 'Lilies' equalling 'cheeks'? But I
would not dictate to Whiting.]

[Line: 2009 huffing waste] 'Pretentious prodigality', as
Bellama was a rich pensioner.]

[Line: 2027 'innupted' is better and better. According to that
lofty view of the genuine writer which insists that he shall
never be at a loss for a word to fit matter and form at once,
Whiting should stand very high.]

[Line: 2048 Orig. 'ear_r_hs'.]

[Line: 2071 Neptune's grandchild] Cupid; but the affiliation
is irregular.]

[Line: 2083 The only meaning I can think of for this
marvellous phrase is, 'He could get the various _dresses_,
but he could not change his own face to suit and give voice to
them'.]

[Line: 2116 Felice] Orig. 'Phæliche' throughout.]

[Line: 2120 Issa] _v._ Martial, i. 110, on the pet dog of
Publius:

Hanc ne lux rapiat suprema totam,
Picta Publius exprimit tabella,
In qua tam similem videbis Issam,
Ut sit tam similis sibi nec ipsa, &c. &c.

]

[Line: 2137 lede] = 'speech', 'tale'. Whether Whiting got this
from Chaucer's 'ledene' one cannot say; but he seems to have
been a man of some reading.]

[Line: 2150 worlds] Play on 'globes'?]

[Line: 2154 'And' would make the next line and a half refer to
Bellama, which does not seem likely.]

[Line: 2174 'Lorrett_a_ is, all things considered, a rather
unfortunate feminizing of Lorett_o_ to denote Our Lady
thereof.]

[Lines: 2188-93 Is this one of the 'misplaced staves' so very
coolly left to the reader's discovery in the Errata-note?
(_v. inf._, p. 551). It looks as if it ought to come after its
present successor.]

[Line: 2196 'rosies', another coinage, of which Whiting was
fond: see ll. 2523, 3344, 3348, 3436.]

[Line: 2220 his] Not that the Prioress thought him masculine
as yet.]

[Line: 2226 camp] Orig. 'came'--from the rhyme an obvious
misprint, but why 'lanky'? Because of mortifications? Cf. 2199
'lankcloister' and 2553 'lanky crew'.]

[Line: 2301 rape] Probably for 'rap', 'valueless coin'.]

[Line: 2382 vogliarell[a] 'Little wish', 'fancy'.]

[Line: 2404 crayfish] Orig. 'creevish' is nearer to
_écrevisse_ and the M. E. _crevis_ than the more modern
forms.]

[Line: 2410 orc] 'vessel as big as a whale'. Orig. 'Orke'.]

[Line: 2415 'glorrah'. Evidently the same word as 'glotrah'
in l. 3714, and apparently some kind of food capable of being
made into a 'shape'.]

[Line: 2427 tempo-pates. Query, pates as bald as Father
Time's.]

[Line: 2453 [*] The first part of this 'pie' is pretty clearly
'jovial', but the rest is mere guesswork. Perhaps 'a jovial
charect'.]

[Line: 2527 Quiris?]

[Line: 2552 sew] 'sue' in orig.]

[Line: 2562 'ptisick' = 'phthisic' would be intelligible in
another context, but not here.]

[Line: 2592 Larv'd] = 'masked'.]

[Line: 2613 In the original, 'by constraint, not, court, lye
sleight'. The punishment fits the crime he had committed in
the nuns' narrow beds.]

[Line: 2652 a-darkness] Like 'a-bed', &c.]

[Line: 2656 'Sesamoidesse'. From the Greek [Greek:
sêsamoeides], a kind of reseda, the medical use of which is
noted in Hippocrates; Strabo also refers to it as a charm in
vogue to reduce tumours.]

[Line: 2686 'Coven', as before.]

[Line: 2689 'vezzo'] Cf. 'vogliarell'.]

[Line: 2721 'Not' carried on to 'laughs'.]

[Line: 2754 trig] To 'trot', 'run'. Apparently Lancashire and
Yorkshire dialect to this day.]

[Line: 2833 'eye-lid rain' may be tears, or a misprint for
'eye-_let_'; _v. sup._, l. 795.]

[Line: 2851 fleecèd] = 'mouldy'.]

[Line: 2861 copèd]? = 'encountered', 'met with'. Cf 3855.]

[Line: 2862 Orig. '_Of_ on'.]

[Line: 2889 Orig. 'Mà boun'.']

[Line: 2897 sience] = 'scion'.]

[Line: 2924 salve] Where did she get it?]

[Line: 2970 Folco] ? Albino-Felice rather.]

[Line: 2971 Sardonic, an adjective formed from 'sardonyx'?]

[Line: 2993 threnes] = 'wailings'--_Graece_.]

[Line: 3038 'Vitruvius' for 'Vesuvius' is going pretty far,
but can be caught up. 'Ichonian' eludes me.]

[Line: 3043 Here Whiting seems to present one of his
characteristic retorts to criticism: 'If you say Mab for
Mabel, why may I not say Mabel for Mab?']

[Line: 3101 'the other _Nunc_'] We say 'the other day', and
'just now'. Why not 'the other minute', and so 'the other
now'?]

[Line: 3116 swogging] Palsgrave, in a passage which I owe
to the late Professor Skeat, 'I swag as a fat person's belly
swaggeth as he goeth', might almost have been annotating
this passage. Cf. also, of course, 'swagger'. As for the _o_,
'Maggie' and 'Moggie', 'flap' and 'flop', and a hundred other
pairs, occur.]

[Line: 3118 We had 'claret' thus used in Benlowes, vol. 1, p.
358 (l. 202).]

[Line: 3143 larvèd] As before, l. 2592.]

[Line: 3152 Is this found elsewhere?]

[Line: 3155 The union of body and soul.]

[Line: 3158 Orig. 'rithmes'.]

[Line: 3160 'Ascending' _&c._ 'the ladder'.]

[Line: 3170 'Ferny flag' is not so bad for the tossed
antlers.]

[Line: 3179 Malèd] Is this for 'mailed'? = '_armoured_ by fear
against the briars'?]

[Line: 3182 _Donnes_] _Donne_? 'ladies'?]

[Line: 3202 Where again he got a trusty or untrusty Turkish or
other blade 'you shall tell me', as Prince Seithenin says. But
it is doubtless 'necessary to the action'.]

[Line: 3208 Orig. 'Cypresse', which is quite another thing,
unless he meant Libitina.]

[Line: 3210 Orig., which I quote merely to show the
extraordinary ill-printing of the book, '_o_lse'!]

[Line: 3228 Was a 'helm' part of the dress which a monk
suddenly flying from his cloister would have 'at _temp._ of
tale'?]

[Line: 3230 Orig. 'wooddards'.]

[Line: 3264 airs] = 'breaths' = 'words'?]

[Line: 3277 Orig. 'led'.]

[Line: 3329 terse] I do not remember a similarly _concrete_
application of 'terse' as 'elegant', 'well-modelled and
outlined'. But, as has been so frequently asked, 'Why not?'
Indeed, the plumber's 'wiped' for a 'shaped' joint, though
certainly not so intended, is a translation of it.]

[Line: 3343 Narcissus' hate] = Echo.]

[Lines: 3344, 3348 Orig., as before, '_rosy_es'.]

[Line: 3354 not] Orig. '_h_ot'!]

[Line: 3363 'Dreane' is, of course, 'drain'. There is a form
_drenian_ (though it is not the only one) in A.S. Cf. p. 539,
l. 2.]

[Line: 3367 Rather a fine line, and 'the Child of Sin', though
of course not original, is interesting _before Milton_ for
Death.]

[Line: 3374 This looks at first like a most remarkable
super-painting of the lily. But the violets are the veins.]

[Line: 3396 Orig. ''Tis th' countenance': but Whiting is
rarely, if ever, rough to this extent, and his printer might
do anything.]

[Line: 3437 _Phyma_] Whiting, or his printer, must surely have
confused [Greek: phyma], 'a malignant growth', 'tumour', with
[Greek: physa], 'a fiery blast'.]

[Line: 3442 had] Orig. 'ha_b_'. So in l. 3437 'u_g_on' and in
l. 3444 'whe_o_'. There was apparently no correction of the
press at all.]

[Line: 3460 healthed] = 'seen that they were in health'.]

[Line: 3467 forth'] So orig. Of course Whiting may have
written 'for_th_ th''.]

[Lines: 3493-7 Some confusion here between Proserpine and
Eurydice.]

[Line: 3533 This scene has a _Robin-and-Makyne_ character,
which might have been made very good and is actually not quite
bad.]

[Line: 3558 feeted] = 'put into metre'.]

[Line: 3581 Orig. 'f_t_am'd'.]

[Line: 3582 seq. The story of Aphrodite and her gift to Phao
is vulgate, but the goddess's _alias_ is not Greek to me.
In the atrocious printing of the original it might be either
'Sea's' or (more nearly) 'Se_d_'s'. The latter is a clear
_vox nihili_, and as, I suppose, even Nathaniel Whiting in the
height of his pranks would not make 'Se-a' a dissyllable,
I suppose also that he wrote '_the_ Sea's' and the printer
dropped the article.]

[Line: 3604 Circe is rather loosely called Glaucus' _wife_.]

[Line: 3606 Who was or were Holgoy?]

[Line: 3608 'Helio_tro_pion' rather--the Moonstone, much used
in magic.]

[Line: 3612 Polupists] = 'pluralists'.]

[Line: 3616 Pompholyx is a 'bubble', thence a 'blister', and
thence again a sort of eczema. But whether it became a name
for one of the 'Fauna of Fancy' I do not find.]

[Line: 3617 'Your loves catch feathers.' In the original,
'Your loves with catch-feathers'; the 'with' seems to have
been taken over from the preceding line.]

[Line: 3622 Mantuan] There is a similar reference in _Il
Insonio_, ll. 365-6.]

[Line: 3627 'Quinque _literae_' is said to be used of Hebrew
roots. But whether anybody preceded Whiting's restless and
fantastic ingenuity in making a half English half Latin
_femina quinque literarum_ to match the _homo trium_ I do not
know. The word itself is obvious enough.]

[Line: 3676 'Tenter' = stretch on tenter-hooks, rack.]

[Line: 3685 pague] Lat. _pagus_, anglicized and transferred
from 'district' to 'village'.]

[Line: 3704 'Lugget' is said to be still dialectic for 'a
small load of corn', and there are numerous senses of 'lug'
meaning 'protuberances'. So I suppose 'ludgets' are knobs or
lumps of bread. But to tell the truth the description of this
meal requires nearly as strong a stomach to read as the meal
itself to eat, and I shall say little more of it. Naughtiness
is sometimes (though by no means so necessarily as appears to
some authors and critics) amusing: nastiness never is. I shall
therefore take the liberty of not annotating for a page or
two.]

[Line: 3796 This line would be a good text for a discourse on
the type of writing. 'Blur the holier entries of Albino's page
with the recording Angel' is its equivalent, and there have
been times when that would have been approved as '_w_ery
pretty'. But 'roule' in orig. may be a misprint for 'soule'.]

[Line: 3797 'Venice' and 'Venus' have been played upon before
by the writer: they are probably, but not quite necessarily,
interchanged here by the printer. It may perhaps be noted that
in the original the printer, weary of mere misspelling
and misprinting, has taken to mispaging. The text goes on
straight, but the pages after 129 are numbered 26, 12, 132,
133, 130, 131, 136, 137, 134, 135, 140, 141, and so on.]

[Lines: 3806-7 It is odd what good lines and phrases this
poetaster can sometimes turn out.

Into his thoughts did throng
His house of penance, hunger, cold, and sweat,

is worthy the most undoubted poet.]

[Line: 3844 'dell' is not unlike Whiting, but, of course,
'cell' suggests itself.]

[Line: 3845 'repell' = repeal.]

[Line: 3871 Apella] _Credat Iudaeus_.]

[Line: 3874 Not 'saw double' but 'had the use of his eyes'.]

[Line: 3892 Orig. 'tuffe'. Was Whiting reminiscent of _The
Nun's Priest's Tale_ here?]

[Line: 3939 Perduer] Apparently 'a soldier who goes on a
forlorn hope'.]

[made their eyes] = 'stared as hard as they could'.
Whiting himself certainly 'makes his _words_ perduers'
in this sense.]

[Line: 3948 Orig. 'tispyde'.]

[Line: 3967 'Copester' (orig. 'coapster') here, and 'coped'
('coap't') in l. 4032, have nothing to do with the amorous
sense in which the word has been formerly used. The
signification is simply 'wearing a cope'.

The 'Canzone' appears to aim at a sort of 'The Queen was in
the parlour' measure:

Drink full ones tinker | methinks the monks are dry;

though the lines, as they always do in such cases,
occasionally simulate regular decasyllables.]

[Line: 4047 fop] Same as 'fob' = 'put off with a false or
trumped-up excuse'.]

[Line: 4054 Angel] The old pun on the coin.]

[Line: 4060 raddle-man] A hawker of coarse red paint.]

[Line: 4067 'podging', though it has various more definite
senses, appears to be still dialectically used for 'stupid'.]

[Line: 4102 I do not find any of the recognized senses of
'swig' (orig. 'swigge') that fits this very well as = 'a fig',
or something coarser. But it may well be coined.]

[Line: 4122 If anybody asks where Starley is it will be
sufficient to answer that it is where the Danes used cannons.
But 'act their juries' (if right) is one of those at first
sight mad phrases of our author's which really have, if little
method, some meaning.]

[Line: 4152 glide] Plural by the common attraction to
'channels'.]

[Line: 4177 'air' (orig. 'ayre') is, I suppose, as before =
'breath' = 'words'.]

[Line: 4188 Albino's remarkably catholic conglomeration of
classical and Christian wedding-rites might, in a more modern
writer, be a satire on Renaissance habits. In him it is only a
survival of them.]

[Lines: 4230-6 In this stanza Whiting gives a final flourish
of his wondrous diction. I feel sure he must have leant back
in his chair and looked lovingly at

Hack on the quiet shore their brackèd sheaths,

and I should not presume to be too certain as to the exact
meaning of 'half-wrack'd with eye-men', though I think I know.
The insouciance with which he shuffles off the not impertinent
question 'How did a somewhat "arbitrary gent" like Don
Rivelezzo take this sort of thing?' is also rather charming.]

* * * * *

TO THOSE WORTHY HEROES OF OUR
Age, whose noble Breasts are wet
and wat'red with the dew of
Helicon, N.W. wisheth ever-
flourishing Laurels.