Chapter XXI: Act THE FIFTH

SCENE I._--A Room in the Lodge. The_ DUKE'S _corpse, dressed in_
VENDICE'S _disguise, lying on a couch._

_Enter_ VENDICE _and_ HIPPOLITO.

_Ven._ So, so, he leans well; take heed you wake him not, brother.

_Hip._ I warrant you my life for yours.

_Ven._ That's a good lay, for I must kill myself.
Brother, that's I, that sits for me: do you mark it? And I must stand
ready here to make away myself yonder. I must sit to be killed, and
stand to kill myself. I could vary it not so little as thrice over
again; 't has some eight returns, like Michaelmas term.[229]

_Hip._ That's enow, o' conscience.

_Ven._ But, sirrah, does the duke's son come single?

_Hip._ No; there's the hell on't: his faith's too feeble to go alone.
He brings flesh-flies after him, that will buzz against supper-time,
and hum for his coming out.

_Ven._ Ah, the fly-flap of vengeance beat 'em to pieces! Here was
the sweetest occasion, the fittest hour, to have made my revenge
familiar with him; show him the body of the duke his father, and how
quaintly he died, like a politician, in hugger-mugger,[230] made no
man acquainted with it; and in catastrophe slay him over his father's
breast. O, I'm mad to lose such a sweet opportunity!

_Hip._ Nay, tush! prythee, be content! there's no remedy present; may
not hereafter times open in as fair faces as this?

_Ven._ They may, if they can paint so well.

_Hip._ Come now: to avoid all suspicion, let's forsake this room, and
be going to meet the duke's son.

_Ven._ Content: I'm for any weather. Heart! step close: here he comes.

_Enter_ LUSSURIOSO.

_Hip._ My honoured lord!

_Lus._ O me! you both present?

_Ven._ E'en newly, my lord, just as your lordship entered now: about
this place we had notice given he should be, but in some loathsome
plight or other.

_Hip._ Came your honour private?

_Lus._ Private enough for this; only a few
Attend my coming out.

_Hip._ Death rot those few! [_Aside._

_Lus._ Stay, yonder's the slave.

_Ven._ Mass, there's the slave, indeed, my lord.
'Tis a good child: he calls his father a slave! [_Aside._

_Lus._ Ay, that's the villain, the damned villain.
Softly. Tread easy.

_Ven._ Pah! I warrant you, my lord, we'll stifle in
our breaths.

_Lus._ That will do well:
Base rogue, thou sleepest thy last; 'tis policy
To have him killed in's sleep; for if he waked,
He would betray all to them.

_Ven._ But, my lord--

_Lus._ Ha, what say'st?

_Ven._ Shall we kill him now he's drunk?

_Lus._ Ay, best of all.

_Ven._ Why, then he will ne'er live to be sober.

_Lus._ No matter, let him reel to hell.

_Ven._ But being so full of liquor, I fear he will put out all the fire.

_Lus._ Thou art a mad beast.

_Ven._ And leave none to warm your lordship's golls[231] withal; for he
that dies drunk falls into hell-fire like a bucket of water--qush, qush!

_Lus._ Come, be ready: nake[232] your swords: think of your wrongs;
this slave has injured you.

_Ven._ Troth, so he has, and he has paid well for't.

_Lus._ Meet with him now.

_Ven._ You'll bear us out, my lord?

_Lus._ Pooh! am I a lord for nothing, think you? quickly now!

_Ven._ Sa, sa, sa, thump [_Stabs the_ DUKE'S _corpse_]--there he lies.

_Lus._ Nimbly done.--Ha! O villains! murderers!
'Tis the old duke, my father.

_Ven._ That's a jest.

_Lus._ What stiff and cold already!
O, pardon me to call you from your names:
'Tis none of your deed. That villain Piato,
Whom you thought now to kill, has murdered
And left him thus disguised.

_Hip._ And not unlikely.

_Ven._ O rascal! was he not ashamed
To put the duke into a greasy doublet?

_Lus._ He has been stiff and cold--who knows how long?

_Ven._ Marry, that I do. [_Aside._

_Lus._ No words, I pray, of anything intended.

_Ven._ O my lord.

_Hip._ I would fain have your lordship think that we have small reason
to prate.

_Lus._ Faith, thou say'st true; I'll forthwith send to court
For all the nobles, bastard, duchess; tell,
How here by miracle we found him dead,
And in his raiment that foul villain fled.

_Ven._ That will be the best way, my lord,
To clear us all; let's cast about to be clear.

_Lus._ Ho! Nencio, Sordido, and the rest!

_Enter all of them._

_1st Ser._ My lord.

_2nd Ser._ My lord.

_Lus._ Be witnesses of a strange spectacle.
Choosing for private conference that sad room,
We found the duke my father gealed in blood.

_1st Ser._ My lord the duke! run, hie thee, Nencio.
Startle the court by signifying so much.

_Ven._ Thus much by wit a deep revenger can,
When murder's known, to be the clearest man.
We're farthest off, and with as bold an eye
Survey his body as the standers-by. [_Aside._

_Lus._ My royal father, too basely let blood
By a malevolent slave!

_Hip._ Hark! he calls thee slave again. [_Aside._

_Ven._ He has lost: he may. [_Aside._

_Lus._ O sight! look hither, see, his lips are gnawn
With poison.

_Ven._ How! his lips? by the mass, they be.
O villain! O rogue! O slave! O rascal!

_Hip._ O good deceit! he quits him with like terms.
[_Aside._

_Amb._ [_Within._] Where?

_Sup._ [_Within._] Which way?

_Enter_ AMBITIOSO _and_ SUPERVACUO, _with_ Nobles _and_ Gentlemen.

_Amb._ Over what roof hangs this prodigious comet
In deadly fire?

_Lus._ Behold, behold, my lords, the duke my father's murdered by a
vassal that owes this habit, and here left disguised.

_Enter_ DUCHESS _and_ SPURIO.

_Duch._ My lord and husband!

_1st Noble._ Reverend majesty!

_2nd Noble._ I have seen these clothes often attending on him.

_Ven._ That nobleman has been' i' th' country, for he does not lie.
[_Aside._

_Sup._ Learn of our mother; let's dissemble too:
I am glad he's vanished; so, I hope, are you.

_Amb._ Ay, you may take my word for't.

_Spu._ Old dad dead!
I, one of his cast sins, will send the Fates
Most hearty commendations by his own son;
I'll tug in the new stream, till strength be done.

_Lus._ Where be those two that did affirm to us,
My lord the duke was privately rid forth?

_1st Gent._ O, pardon us, my lords; he gave that charge--
Upon our lives, if he were missed at court,
To answer so; he rode not anywhere;
We left him private with that fellow here.

_Ven._ Confirmed. [_Aside._

_Lus._ O Heavens! that false charge was his death.
Impudent beggars! durst you to our face
Maintain such a false answer? Bear him straight
To execution.

_1st Gent._ My lord!

_Lus._ Urge me no more in this!
The excuse may be called half the murder.

_Ven._ You've sentenced well. [_Aside._

_Lus._ Away; see it be done.

_Ven._ Could you not stick? See what confession doth!
Who would not lie, when men are hanged for truth?
[_Aside._

_Hip._ Brother, how happy is our vengeance! [_Aside._

_Ven._ Why, it hits past the apprehension of
Indifferent wits. [_Aside._

_Lus._ My lord, let post-horses be sent
Into all places to entrap the villain.

_Ven._ Post-horses, ha, ha! [_Aside._

_1st Noble._ My lord, we're something bold to know our duty.
Your father's accidentally departed;
The titles that were due to him meet you.

_Lus._ Meet me! I'm not at leisure, my good lord.
I've many griefs to despatch out o' the way.
Welcome, sweet titles!--[_Aside._
Talk to me, my lords,
Of sepulchres and mighty emperors' bones;
That's thought for me.

_Ven._ So one may see by this
How foreign markets go;
Courtiers have feet o' the nines, and tongues o' the twelves;
They flatter dukes, and dukes flatter themselves. [_Aside._

_2nd Noble._ My lord, it is your shine must comfort us.

_Lus._ Alas! I shine in tears, like the sun in April.

_1st Noble._ You're now my lord's grace.

_Lus._ My lord's grace! I perceive you'll have it so.

_2nd Noble._ 'Tis but your own.

_Lus._ Then, Heavens, give me grace to be so!

_Ven._ He prays well for himself. [_Aside_.

_1st Noble._ Madam, all sorrows
Must run their circles into joys. No doubt but time
Will make the murderer bring forth himself.

_Ven._ He were an ass then, i' faith. [_Aside_.

_1st Noble._ In the mean season,
Let us bethink the latest funeral honours
Due to the duke's cold body. And withal,
Calling to memory our new happiness
Speed in his royal son: lords, gentlemen,
Prepare for revels.

_Ven._ Revels! [_Aside._

_1st Noble._ Time hath several falls.
Griefs lift up joys: feasts put down funerals.

_Lus._ Come then, my lords, my favour's to you all.
The duchess is suspected foully bent;
I'll begin dukedom with her banishment. [_Aside._
[_Exeunt_ LUSSURIOSO, DUCHESS, _and_ Nobles.

_Hip._ Revels!

_Ven._ Ay, that's the word: we are firm yet;
Strike one strain more, and then we crown our wit.
[_Exeunt_ VENDICE _and_ HIPPOLITO.

_Spu._ Well, have at the fairest mark--so said the duke when he begot me;
And if I miss his heart, or near about,
Then have at any; a bastard scorns to be out. [_Exit._

_Sup._ Notest thou that Spurio, brother?

_Ant._ Yes, I note him to our shame.

_Sup._ He shall not live: his hair shall not grow much longer. In this
time of revels, tricks may be set afoot. Seest thou yon new moon? it
shall outlive the new duke by much; this hand shall dispossess him.
Then we're mighty.

A mask is treason's licence, that build upon:
'Tis murder's best face, when a vizard's on. [_Exit._

_Amb._ Is't so? 'tis very good!
And do you think to be duke then, kind brother?
I'll see fair play; drop one, and there lies t'other.
[_Exit._

SCENE II.--_A Room in_ PIERO'S _House._

_Enter_ VENDICE _and_ HIPPOLITO, _with_ PIERO _and other_ Lords.

_Ven._ My lords, be all of music, strike old griefs into other countries
That flow in too much milk, and have faint livers,
Not daring to stab home their discontents.
Let our hid flames break out as fire, as lightning,
To blast this villainous dukedom, vexed with sin;
Wind up your souls to their full height again.

_Piero._ How?

_1st Lord._ Which way?

_2nd Lord._ Any way: our wrongs are such,
We cannot justly be revenged too much.

_Ven._ You shall have all enough. Revels are toward,
And those few nobles that have long suppressed you,
Are busied to the furnishing of a masque,
And do affect to make a pleasant tale on't:
The masquing suits are fashioning: now comes in
That which must glad us all. We too take pattern
Of all those suits, the colour, trimming, fashion,
E'en to an undistinguished hair almost:
Then entering first, observing the true form,
Within a strain or two we shall find leisure
To steal our swords out handsomely;
And when they think their pleasure sweet and good,
In midst of all their joys they shall sigh blood.

_Piero._ Weightily, effectually!

_3rd Lord._ Before the t'other maskers come--

_Ven._ We're gone, all done and past.

_Piero._ But how for the duke's guard?

_Ven._ Let that alone;
By one and one their strengths shall be drunk down.

_Hip._ There are five hundred gentlemen in the action,
That will apply themselves, and not stand idle.

_Piero._ O, let us hug your bosoms!

_Ven._ Come, my lords,
Prepare for deeds: let other times have words.
[_Exeunt._

SCENE III.--_Hall of State in the Palace._

_In a dumb show, the possessing_[233] _of the_ YOUNG DUKE _with all
his_ Nobles; _sounding music. A furnished table is brought forth;
then enter the_ DUKE _and his_ Nobles _to the banquet. A blazing star
appeareth._

_1st Noble._ Many harmonious hours and choicest pleasures
Fill up the royal number of your years!

_Lus._ My lords, we're pleased to thank you, though we know
'Tis but your duty now to wish it so.

_1st Noble._ That shine makes us all happy.

_3rd Noble._ His grace frowns.

_2nd Noble._ Yet we must say he smiles.

_1st Noble._ I think we must.

_Lus._ That foul incontinent duchess we have banished;
The bastard shall not live. After these revels,
I'll begin strange ones: he and the step-sons
Shall pay their lives for the first subsidies;
We must not frown so soon, else't had been now.
[_Aside._

_1st Noble._ My gracious lord, please you prepare for pleasure.
The masque is not far off.

_Lus._ We are for pleasure.
Beshrew thee, what art thou? thou mad'st me start!
Thou has committed treason. A blazing star!

_1st Noble._ A blazing star! O, where, my lord?

_Lus._ Spy out.

_2nd Noble._ See, see, my lords, a wondrous dreadful one!

_Lus._ I am not pleased at that ill-knotted fire,
That bushing, staring star. Am I not duke?
It should not quake me now. Had it appeared
Before, it I might then have justly feared;
But yet they say, whom art and learning weds,
When stars wear locks, they threaten great men's heads:
Is it so? you are read, my lords.

_1st Noble._ May it please your grace,
It shows great anger.

_Lus._ That does not please our grace.

_2nd Noble._ Yet here's the comfort, my lord: many times,
When it seems most near, it threatens farthest off.

_Lus._ Faith, and I think so too.

_1st Noble._ Beside, my lord,
You're gracefully established with the loves
Of all your subjects; and for natural death,
I hope it will be threescore years a-coming.

_Lus._ True? no more but threescore years?

_1st Noble._ Fourscore, I hope, my lord.

_2nd Noble._ And fivescore, I.

_3rd Noble._ But 'tis my hope, my lord, you shall ne'er die.

_Lus._ Give me thy hand; these others I rebuke:
He that hopes so is fittest for a duke:
Thou shalt sit next me; take your places, lords;
We're ready now for sports; let 'em set on:
You thing! we shall forget you quite anon!

_3rd Noble._ I hear 'em coming, my lord.

_Enter the Masque of revengers:_ VENDICE _and_ HIPPOLITO, _with two_
Lords.

_Lus._ Ah, 'tis well!
Brothers and bastard, you dance next in hell! [_Aside._

[_They dance; at the end they steal out their swords, and kill the
four seated at the table. Thunder._

_Ven._ Mark, thunder!
Dost know thy cue, thou big-voiced crier?
Dukes' groans are thunder's watchwords.

_Hip._ So, my lords, you have enough.

_Ven._ Come, let's away, no lingering.

_Hip._ Follow! go! [_Exeunt except_ VENDICE.

_Ven._ No power is angry when the lustful die;
When thunder claps, heaven likes the tragedy. [_Exit._

_Lus._ O, O!

_Enter the Masque of intended murderers:_ AMBITIOSO, SUPERVACUO,
SPURIO, _and a_ Lord, _coming in dancing._ LUSSURIOSO _recovers a
little in voice, groans, and calls_, "A guard! treason!" _at which
the_ Dancers _start out of their measure, and, turning towards the
table, find them all to be murdered._

_Spu._ Whose groan was that?

_Lus._ Treason! a guard!

_Amb._ How now? all murdered!

_Sup._ Murdered!

_3rd. Lord._ And those his nobles?

_Amb._ Here's a labour saved;
I thought to have sped him. 'Sblood, how came this?

_Spu._ Then I proclaim myself; now I am duke.

_Amb._ Thou duke! brother, thou liest.

_Spu._ Slave! so dost thou. [_Kills_ AMBITIOSO.

_3rd Lord._ Base villain! hast thou slain my lord and master?
[_Stabs_ SPURIO.

_Re-enter_ VENDICE _and_ HIPPOLITO _and the two_ Lords.

_Ven._ Pistols! treason! murder! Help! guard my lord the duke!

_Enter_ ANTONIO _and_ Guard.

_Hip._ Lay hold upon this traitor.

_Lus._ O!

_Ven._ Alas! the duke is murdered.

_Hip._ And the nobles.

_Ven._ Surgeons! surgeons! Heart! does he breathe so long?
[_Aside._

_Ant._ A piteous tragedy! able to make
An old man's eyes bloodshot.

_Lus._ O!

_Ven._ Look to my lord the duke. A vengeance throttle him!
[_Aside._
Confess, thou murderous and unhallowed man,
Didst thou kill all these?

_3rd Lord._ None but the bastard, I.

_Ven._ How came the duke slain, then?

_3rd Lord._ We found him so.

_Lus._ O villain!

_Ven._ Hark!

_Lus._ Those in the masque did murder us.

_Ven._ La you now, sir--
O marble impudence! will you confess now?

_3rd Lord._ 'Sblood, 'tis all false.

_Ant._ Away with that foul monster,
Dipped in a prince's blood.

_3rd Lord._ Heart! 'tis a lie.

_Ant._ Let him have bitter execution.

_Ven._ New marrow! no, I cannot be expressed.
How fares my lord the duke?

_Lus._ Farewell to all;
He that climbs highest has the greatest fall.
My tongue is out of office.

_Ven._ Air, gentlemen, air.
Now thou'lt not prate on't, 'twas Vendice murdered thee.
[_Whispers in his ear._

_Lus._ O!

_Ven._ Murdered thy father. [_Whispers._

_Lus._ O! [_Dies._

_Ven._ And I am he--tell nobody: [_Whispers_] So, so, the duke's departed.

_Ant._ It was a deadly hand that wounded him.
The rest, ambitious who should rule and sway
After his death, were so made all away.

_Ven._ My lord was unlikely--

_Hip._ Now the hope
Of Italy lies in your reverend years.

_Ven._ Your hair will make the silver age again,
When there were fewer, but more honest men.

_Ant._ The burthen's weighty, and will press age down;
May I so rule, that Heaven may keep the crown!

_Ven._ The rape of your good lady has been quitted
With death on death.

_Ant._ Just is the law above.
But of all things it put me most to wonder
How the old duke came murdered!

_Ven._ O my lord!

_Ant._ It was the strangeliest carried: I've not heard of the like.

_Hip._ 'Twas all done for the best, my lord.

_Ven._ All for your grace's good. We may be bold to speak it now,
'Twas somewhat witty carried, though we say it--
'Twas we two murdered him.

_Ant._ You two?

_Ven._ None else, i' faith, my lord. Nay, 'twas well-managed.

_Ant._ Lay hands upon those villains!

_Ven._ How! on us?

_Ant._ Bear 'em to speedy execution.

_Ven._ Heart! was't not for your good, my lord?

_Ant._ My good! Away with 'em: such an old man as he!
You, that would murder him, would murder me.

_Ven._ Is't come about?

_Hip._ 'Sfoot, brother, you begun.

_Ven._ May not we set as well as the duke's son?
Thou hast no conscience, are we not revenged?
Is there one enemy left alive amongst those?
'Tis time to die, when we're ourselves our foes:
When murderers shut deeds close, this curse does seal 'em:
If none disclose 'em, they themselves reveal 'em!
This murder might have slept in tongueless brass
But for ourselves, and the world died an ass.
Now I remember too, here was Piato
Brought forth a knavish sentence once;
No doubt (said he), but time
Will make the murderer bring forth himself.
'Tis well he died; he was a witch.
And now, my lord, since we are in for ever,
This work was ours, which else might have been slipped!
And if we list, we could have nobles clipped,
And go for less than beggars; but we hate
To bleed so cowardly: we have enough,
I' faith, we're well, our mother turned, our sister true,
We die after a nest of dukes. Adieu! [_Exeunt._

_Ant._ How subtlely was that murder closed![234]
Bear up
Those tragic bodies: 'tis a heavy season;
Pray Heaven their blood may wash away all treason!
[_Exit._

NOTES.

[1] See J. A. Symonds' _Shakespeare's Predecessors_, chap. xii., for a
definition and description of this dramatic genus.

[2] This play will be included in another volume of the Mermaid Series.

[3] It ought, perhaps, to be mentioned that the remarks which follow
are adapted in part from an essay on Webster published in my _Italian
By-ways_.

[4] Readers of this volume who are anxious to obtain more light upon
Webster's art, must be referred to Lamb's notes in the _Specimens from
English Dramatic Poets_, to Mr. Swinburne's article on John Webster
in _The Nineteenth Century_ for June, 1886, and to my own essay upon
_Vittoria Accoramboni_ in _Italian By-ways_ (Smith and Elder, 1883).

The text adopted for Webster's two tragedies is that of Dyce's edition.
His arrangement of scenes has been followed, except in the case of
the _Vittoria Corombona_, which Dyce left undivided. The notes, too,
are in the main extracted from the same source. With reference to
Cyril Tourneur's plays, the text of _The Atheist's Tragedy_ has been
modernised from Mr. Churton Collins's edition; that of _The Revenger's
Tragedy_ is based upon the modernised version in Hazlitt's edition of
Dodsley, collated throughout with Mr. Collins's text. Students of the
English drama owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Churton Collins for his
scholarly issue of the complete works of Tourneur.

[5] Martial, xiii. 2.

[6] Martial, iv. 87.

[7] Martial, xiii. 2.

[8] Horace, _Epod._ iii.

[9] _Epist._ i. 7.

[10] Valerius Maximus, Lib. iii. 7.

[11] Martial, x. 2.

[12] Requite.

[13] Violently dashed.

[14] Different kinds of mummy were formerly used in medicine. "Mummie
is become merchandise," says Sir Thomas Browne, "Mizraim cures wounds,
and Pharaoh is sold for balsams." _Urn-Burial._

[15] Open-work embroidery.

[16] A sounding (but not a flourish) of trumpets or other wind
instruments.

[17] Coach. Fr. _Carrosse_.

[18] _i.e._ More feathers were not dislodged from the helmets of the
combatants at the great tilting-match.--_Steevens_.

[19] Housings.

[20] It is hardly possible to mark with any certainty the
stage-business of this play. Though Brachiano, who has just withdrawn
into a "closet," appears again when Flamineo calls him (_See_ p. 15),
it would seem that the audience were to _imagine_ that a change of
scene took place here to another apartment, as Flamineo says (p. 13):
"Sister, my lord attends you in the banqueting-house."--_Dyce._

[21] Quarrel.

[22] _i.e._ Allow an adversary to aim in order to draw him on to
continue playing.

[23] The jack at bowls.

[24] Leash.

[25] A measuring instrument.

[26] Vended.

[27] A mark of good-will.

[28] The lowest menials who rode in the vehicles which carried the
domestic utensils from mansion to mansion.

[29] Flamineo's speeches are half-asides.

[30] Magnet.

[31] State journey.

[32] A prized antidote. "Andrea Racci, a physician of Florence, affirms
the pound of 16 ounces to have been sold in the apothecaries' shops
for 1,536 crowns, when the same weight of gold was only worth 148
crowns."--Chambers's _Dict._, quoted by Dyce.

[33] Haply, peradventure.

[34] Danish.

[35] See _Hamlet_, Act v. sc. 2. "This lapwing runs away with the shell
on his head."

[36] Polander.

[37] Virgil, _Æn._ i. 26.

[38] Antimony.

[39] Read perhaps "lethal."

[40] _i.e._ The motto.

[41] Ovid, _Metam._ iii. 466.

[42] Horse.

[43] Given in charge.

[44] Resident.

[45] Shoes of leather.

[46] Poulterer.

[47] "And there besyden growen trees, that beren fulle faire Apples,
and faire of colour to beholde; but whoso brekethe hem, or cuttethe hem
in two, he schalle fynde within hem Coles and Cyndres."--_Maundeville's
Travels_.

[48] _i.e._ Convinced.

[49] With which floors were formerly strewed, before the introduction
of carpets.

[50] Corrupt text.

[51] Cheat.

[52] Mule.

[53] Ovid, _Amor._ i. 8.

[54] Portuguese coins, so called from the cross on one side.

[55] Equal to sixpence.

[56] "This White Devil of Italy sets off a bad cause so speciously, and
pleads with such an innocence-resembling boldness, that we seem to see
that matchless beauty of her face which inspires such gay confidence
into her; and are ready to expect, when she has done her pleadings,
that her very judges, her accusers, the grave ambassadors who sit as
spectators, and all the court, will rise and make proffer to defend her
in spite of the utmost conviction of her guilt; as the shepherds in
Don Quixote make proffer to follow the beautiful shepherdess Marcela,
'without reaping any profit out of her manifest resolution made there
in their hearing.'

"'So sweet and lovely does she make the shame,
Which, like a canker in the fragrant rose,
Does spot the beauty of her budding name.'"
C. Lamb. (_Spec. of Eng. Dram. Poets._)

[57] Muddled up.

[58] A man famous for his power of digesting all sorts of strange food.

[59] Branded.

[60] Ingenuously.

[61] Rogue. Fr. _Gueux._

[62] A corruption of God's death.

[63] Brides formerly walked to church with their hair hanging loose
behind. Anne Bullen's was thus dishevelled when she went to the altar
with King Henry the Eighth.--_Steevens._

[64] Registered.

[65] _i.e._ Supplying borrowers with goods to be debited to them as
cash.

[66] An allusion to the tribute imposed by Edgar which led to the
extirpation of wolves in Britain.

[67] Virgil, _Æn._ vii. 312.

[68] Anticipate.

[69] Syphilis.

[70]
"Let him have Russian law for all his sins.
What's that? A hundred blows on his bare shins."
Day's _Parliament of Bees_, 1641.

[71] Two mediums for administering poison.

[72] A play upon terms of hawking.

[73] A magic glass.

[74] Squat, _i.e._ the seat or form of a hare.

[75] See _Herodotus_, lib. ii. c. 68, on the trochilus.

[76] _i.e._ Fine.

[77] This was nearly the form in which the election of a Pope was
declared to the people.

[78] Foolish.

[79] Terms of the _manège_.

[80] In the year 1598 Edward Squire was convicted of anointing the
pummel of the Queen's saddle with poison, for which he was afterwards
executed.--_Reed._

[81] Alluding to a woman's longing during pregnancy.

[82] Here the audience were to suppose that a change of scene had taken
place--that the stage now represented Brachiano's chamber: later on
Gasparo says, "For Christian charity, avoid the chamber."

[83] Rosette.

[84] Orris powder.

[85] See Pliny, Nat. Hist., viii. 27.

[86] A species of plover.

[87] Strong broth.

[88] Smother.

[89] A curtain on the stage.

[90] "I never saw anything like this dirge, except the ditty which
reminds Ferdinand of his drowned father in the Tempest. As that is of
the water, watery; so this is of the earth, earthy. Both have that
intenseness of feeling, which seems to resolve itself into the elements
which it contemplates."--C. Lamb, _Spec. of Eng. Dram. Poets_.

[91] Assured.

[92] A low term for women.

[93] Pir.

[94] This plant, respecting which many superstitions prevailed, was
said to give a loud shriek when it was torn up.

[95] Bitch-hounds.

[96] One of the fifty daughters of Danaus, the son of Belus, brother of
Ægyptus. She preserved her husband Lynceus, who afterwards slew Danaus.

[97] A French and Italian sword dance of fools.

[98] Slang for "sword."

[99] Martial ii. 91.

[100] An actor of considerable eminence, who is supposed to have
originally played the part of Brachiano. He is known to have been the
original performer of Captain Goodlack in Heywood's _Fair Maid of
the West_, of Sir John Belfare in Shirley's _Wedding_, and of Hanno
in Nabbes's _Hannibal and Scipio._ When Marlowe's _Jew of Malta_ was
revived about 1633 Perkins acted Barabas.

[101] The twelfth Lord Berkeley. "My good lord," says Massinger,
inscribing _The Renegado_ to him, "to be honoured for old nobility or
hereditary titles, is not alone proper to yourself, but to some few
of your rank, who may challenge the like privilege with you: but in
our age to vouchsafe (as you have often done) a ready hand to raise
the dejected spirits of the contemned sons of the Muses, such as would
not suffer the glorious fire of poesy to be wholly extinguished, is so
remarkable and peculiar to your lordship, that, with a full vote and
suffrage, it is acknowledged that the patronage and protection of the
dramatic poem is yours and almost without a rival."

[102] An allusion to the sport called "Running at the Ring," at which
the tilter, while riding at full speed, endeavoured to thrust the point
of his lance through, and to bear away, the ring, which was suspended
in the air.--_Dyce._

[103] A play upon the word, "tent" meaning also a roll of lint or other
bandage.

[104] A lively dance.

[105] Coaches.

[106] Behaviour.

[107] _i.e._ Ornamental, belonging to accomplishments.--_Dyce._

[108] Incontinent.

[109] The net in which he caught Mars and Venus.

[110] _i.e._ Ingenuous.

[111] As previously Antonio has been told that he must attend the
Duchess "in the gallery," it would seem that the audience were to
imagine a change of scene had taken place (_i.e._, at the exit of
Ferdinand).--_Dyce._

[112] _The Two Faithful Friends, the pleasant History of Alexander
and Lodwicke, who were so like one another, that none could know them
asunder; wherein is declared how Lodwicke married the Princesse of
Hungaria, in Alexander's name, and how each night he layd a naked sword
betweene him and the Princesse, because he would not wrong his friend,_
is reprinted from the Pepys collection in Evans's _Old Ballads_. There
was also a play written by Martin Slaughter, called _Alexander and
Lodowick.--Dyce._

[113] A cant term for the insolent bloods and vapourers of the
time--_Dyce._

[114] Another cant term.

[115] State journey.

[116] A leperous eruption.

[117] Buy new housings for his beast.

[118] Hysterics.

[119] Rascal.

[120] The lowest class of menials.

[121] Strong broths. The old receipt-books recommend "pieces of gold"
among the ingredients.--_Dyce._

[122] Compare Shakespeare:

"And shrieks, like mandrakes torn out of the earth,
That living mortals hearing them run mad."
_Romeo and Juliet_, A. iv. s. 3.

[123] Query "rapture."

[124] Substance or property.

[125] _i.e._ Foolish.

[126] Orris.

[127] Plutus.

[128] "The vexed Bermoothes" was the island of Bermuda.

[129] Francis I., who surrendered to Lannoy at the battle of Pavia.

[130] Plan.

[131] Camp.

[132] Trimmed.

[133] Dyce suggests that here the audience had to imagine a change
of scene--to the lodging of the Duchess, who is confined to certain
apartments in her own palace.

[134] Curtain.

[135] Band.

[136] Coach.

[137] "She has lived among horrors till she is become 'native and
endowed unto that element.' She speaks the dialect of despair, her
tongue has a smatch of Tartarus and the souls in bale. What are 'Luke's
iron crown,' the brazen bull of Perillus, Procrustes' bed, to the waxen
images which counterfeit death, to the wild masque of madmen, the
tomb-maker, the bell-man, the living person's dirge, the mortification
by degrees! To move a horror skilfully, to touch a soul to the quick,
to lay upon fear as much as it can bear, to wean and weary a life till
it is ready to drop, and then step in with mortal instruments to take
its last forfeit; this only a Webster can do. Writers of an inferior
genius may 'upon horror's head horrors accumulate,' but they cannot
do this. They mistake quantity for quality, they 'terrify babes with
painted devils,' but they know not how a soul is capable of being
moved; their terrors want dignity, their affrightments are without
decorum."--C. Lamb, _Spec. of Eng. Dram. Poets._

[138] This was a common superstition of the time.

[139] Fraught.

[140] Skeletons.

[141] Sugar-plums perfumed for sweetening the breath.

[142] _i.e._ Earnest.

[143] With which it was the custom to strew the floors.

[144] The quarto drops the "her."

[145] At the siege of Ostend, which is described in Borachio's speech.

[146] Appearance. This meaning passes into that of countenance.

[147] This way of description, which seems unwilling ever to leave off
weaving parenthesis within parenthesis, was brought to its height by
Sir Philip Sidney. He seems to have set the example to Shakespeare.
Many beautiful instances may be found all over the _Arcadia_.
These bountiful wits always give full measure, pressed down and
overflowing.--_Charles Lamb._

[148] Play on the double meaning--clown, leathern flagon--of the word
"jack."

[149] With the O of one in pain. An odd and tragical application of a
rule from the Latin grammar.--_Collins._

[150] Sanctified Puritan.

[151] To man is to attend or escort.

[152] Preserves, sweetmeats.

[153] A reference to Arctic voyages.

[154] In full course. A metaphor from the jousting-ground.

[155] This trick of a woman, caught with a lover, to deceive her
husband is frequently employed by the Italian novelists.

[156] An allusion, of course, to the Straits of Gibraltar, where
Hercules was supposed to have set up columns forbidding further
exploration of the ocean.

[157] _i.e._ Tangible, yielding impressions to the senses of another
person.

[158] So in _Two Noble Kinsmen_ pleurisy is used for plethora--"The
pleurisy of people."

[159] _i.e._ A farthing.

[160] See on page 263, Sebastian's exclamation, "A rape!" near end of
Act i., sc. 4.

[161] "Means" are here equivalent to voices intermediate between treble
and bass, as tenors. Collins adduces a passage from Lyly's _Galathea_
(Act v., sc. 3), where there is a similar play on words.

[162] _i.e._ A lordship, Ital. _Signoria_; Fr. _Seigneurie_.

[163] _i.e._ Bond, contract.

[164] What pretty fancies you have.

[165] Savin, an irritant poison, has long been in popular use to induce
abortion in women.

[166] Also spelt _popering_. A particular species of pear.

[167] This is obscure, but it probably refers to the Italian music
phrase _largo_.

[168] Articles of millinery: veils and headdresses.

[169] The simile is from legal documents in which one superfluous
letter might nullify a deed.

[170] A flatulent swelling of the abdomen.

[171] Too narrowly dispute the reason of an accident favourable to
myself.

[172] _i.e._ Surrender myself to justice.

[173] Play upon the word "bill," which meant in one sense a stout staff
with an iron blade at one end, like a partizan.

[174] _i.e._ Countenance.

[175] _i.e._ Arrested.

[176] Clear up the doubt conveyed in your question.

[177] Shakespeare uses this word in two senses, as "pressing business"
and "extremity."

[178] _i.e._ A subject for dissection.

[179] This is addressed to the common headsman.

[180] With a skull in his hand. That it is the skull of his mistress is
evident from the whole of the scene. He makes use of it afterwards in
Act iii.--_Collier._

[181] Luxury was the ancient term for incontinence.

[182] Years must be read _yearës_.

[183] This is not a name of syphilis, but a comparison only of it to a
mole, on account of the effects it sometimes produces in occasioning
the loss of hair.--_Pegge._

[184] Disembowelled.

[185] She means from the highest to the lowest of her sex. At this time
women of the inferior order wore hats. See Hollar's _Ornatus Muliebris
Anglicanus_, 1640.--_Hazlitt._

[186] "Set a beggar on horseback, and he'll ride a gallop."

[187] That part of a ring in which the stone is set.

[188] Old copy, "Met."

[189] Bonds.

[190] _i.e._ Sand it, to prevent it from blotting, while the ink was
wet.--_Steevens._

[191] _i.e._ Embrace.

[192] "Portico" has been suggested. But I see no reason to alter the
text. "Portion" is here that which specially belongs to the soul as its
birthright.

[193] Equivalent to hit the nail on the head, clinched the matter.
Perhaps the metaphor is derived from ringing sound.

[194] Put a thief upon the track.

[195] Novice.

[196] A corruption of "God's blood."

[197] There is no reason to omit the word "by." Vendice seems to refer
to "families called honourable," _i.e._, the children of lords.

[198] _i.e._ Next heir.

[199] Wheel of fortune.

[200] A play upon the double meaning of the word "angel," which was the
name of a gold coin.

[201] Decline, droop.

[202] Long-suffering.

[203] Embrace.

[204] Alluding to the custom of hanging hats in ancient halls upon
stags' horns.--_Steevens._

[205] This allusion to farms sold for a court-wardrobe is common in our
drama.

[206] _i.e._ Measured.

[207] _i.e._ Honesty.

[208] Decline.

[209] _i.e._ Nightdresses.

[210] Alluding to the custom of entering horses sold at fairs in a book
called the "Toll-book."

[211] Defile.

[212] Liars.

[213] Stable.

[214] Some lune or frenzy.

[215] Edits., "Impudent." The least imprudent is equivalent to the most
farsighted or wary.

[216] _i.e._ Hat.

[217] Alluding to Duns Scotus, who commented upon "The Master of the
Sentences."

[218] In the game of Primero.

[219] He imagines her to be speaking, and answers her.

[220] Embraces.

[221] Weak, treacherous.

[222] Poultry.

[223] A corruption of _certiorari_.

[224] Like.

[225] It has been suggested that _quarled_ is equivalent to
_guarelled_; and that it alludes to poison put on arrows. The sound of
the word seems to point at some synonym for _curdled_.

[226] Alluding to the 5th Commandment.

[227] _i.e._ Incite, encourage her.

[228] The reality and life of this dialogue passes any scenical
illusion I ever felt. I never read it but my ears tingle, and I feel a
hot flush spread my cheeks, as if I were presently about to "proclaim"
some such "malefactions" of myself as the brothers here rebuke in this
unnatural parent, in words more keen and dagger-like than those which
Hamlet speaks to his mother. Such power has the passion of shame, truly
personated, not only to "strike guilty creatures unto the soul," but to
"appal" even those that are "free."--_Lamb._

[229] Michaelmas term now has but four returns.

[230] In secret.

[231] Hands.

[232] _i.e._ Unsheathe.

[233] _i.e._ The installation or putting in possession.

[234] Disclosed.

FINIS.