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diff --git a/41726-0.txt b/41726-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8cf1d9e --- /dev/null +++ b/41726-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2739 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41726 *** + +Transcriber's note + +Variable, archaic or unusual spelling and punctuation have been retained +apart from minor punctuation inconsistencies which have been silently +corrected. A list of other changes made can be found at the end of the +book. Line numbers and sidenotes are placed within [square brackets]. + +For this text version, text in superscript is placed within curly +brackets preceded by a carat character like ^{this}. Diacritical marks +that cannot be represented in plain text are shown in the following +manner: + + [=a] a with macron + Ligature [oe] is encoded as oe. + + Mark up: _italics_ + + + + +The Tudor Library. + +NARCISSUS, A TWELFE NIGHT MERRIMENT. + + + + +_Five hundred copies of this Edition are printed._ + + + + + A TWELFE NIGHT MERRIMENT. + + ANNO 1602. + + + + + NARCISSUS + + A TWELFE NIGHT MERRIMENT + + PLAYED BY YOUTHS OF THE PARISH + + AT + + THE COLLEGE OF S. JOHN THE BAPTIST IN OXFORD, A.D. 1602 + + WITH APPENDIX + + [Illustration] + + NOW FIRST EDITED FROM A BODLEIAN MS. + + BY + + MARGARET L. LEE + OF S. HUGH'S HALL, OXFORD + + + [Illustration] + + + LONDON + + PUBLISHED BY DAVID NUTT IN THE STRAND + + MDCCCXCIII + + + + +CHISWICK PRESS:--C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, +LONDON. + + + + +INTERLOQUUTORES. + + 1. TYRESIAS. + 2. CEPHISUS. + 3. NARCISSUS. + 4. DORASTUS. + 5. CLINIAS. + 6. ECCHO. + 7. LYRIOPE. + 8. FLORIDA. + 9. CLOIS. + 10. THE WELL. + 11. PORTER. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +IN editing the hitherto unpublished play of _Narcissus_, together with +the three speeches and the letter composed for Francis Clarke, porter of +S. John's, I have retained throughout the very irregular spelling of the +MS. The punctuation and use of capital letters have, however, been +modernized, the contractions employed for _the_, _which_, _with_, +_what_, and certain prefixes, expanded, and a few obviously scribal +errors corrected in the text, the notes supplying in every such case the +original MS. reading. + +In bringing to its conclusion a work which now seems even less +satisfactorily performed than I once hoped it might be, there is at +least a pleasure in recording thanks to all those who have interested +themselves on my behalf, and aided me with suggestions and criticisms, +or--as in the case of the editors of the _N. E. D._--with valuable +references. Indeed, were it not for the direct and indirect help of +friends--and amongst those who have given me the former I must make +special and grateful mention of Professor Ker, Professor Napier, and Mr. +Madan--_Narcissus_ would have been left to find a worthier editor. + + 26, WARRINGTON CRESCENT, + MAIDA HILL. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +SECTION I. NARCISSUS. + +THIS play, which for want of a ready-made title I have called +_Narcissus_, dates from a period of peculiar interest in the history of +that class of dramatic composition to which it belongs. + +So vast a phenomenon as the rise and fall of the complete English drama +could not but be attended by widely-spread symptoms of the popular love +for stage representation; a tendency which, though it would never have +produced a Shaksperian tragedy, yet alone rendered possible the work of +a Shakspere. These lesser manifestations of the feeling that pervaded +Elizabethan England may be compared to the small fissures on the side of +a volcano, through which the same lava as fills the molten crater +emanates in slender and perhaps hardly perceptible channels. It may +chance that the activity of these side-streams presages the final +eruption at the summit; yet afterwards they are scarcely noticed, and +their effects are too puny to attract attention. So it is with the +abortive forms of drama, heralding, accompanying, and in some cases +outliving, the culmination of English dramatic art under Shakspere. They +are not, as a rule, the product of those great intellects which helped +in the rearing of the main structure; but rather of such lesser writers +as were either possessed by the dramatic spirit while ignorant of the +formative and restraining rules of art, or else imbued with a desire to +follow those rules, as they had been drawn up by Aristotle and Horace +and exemplified in French and Italian literature, whilst themselves +wanting in originality, and oblivious of the superiority of a native +growth over the best of importations. The latter class of would-be +English dramatists, in especial, found a natural field for action +amongst the scholarly societies which constituted a mediæval university. +Though as early as 1584 and 1593 statutes are found enacting that no +players shall perform within five miles of Oxford, it must be remembered +that these refer to professional, not to academical actors, and that the +regulations controlling the former were of much greater stringency than +those which concerned the latter. + +Nor were plays imitated from Greek and Latin writers the only ones to be +performed by undergraduates and others before select audiences in the +college halls. Youthful players would probably demand the introduction +of something more or less witty; and the fact that theatrical +representations generally took place on the occasion of a royal visit, +or at times of special rejoicing, accounts in some degree for the +casting aside of the strictly classical models, and the employment of +masques, or of such looser forms of comedy as were the outcome of +Heywood's _Interludes_, into either of which contemporary allusions and +jests could be readily introduced. Nevertheless, the majority of such +pieces continued to deal with subjects taken from Roman and Greek +mythology, the various anachronisms and absurdities which arose from +this method of treatment only contributing to heighten the amusement of +the spectators. + +I have already implied that _Narcissus_ belongs to the class of +University plays, inasmuch as it was acted at S. John's College, Oxford, +on Twelfth Night, 1602. It does not, however, approximate in any way to +the classical form of comedy; it is rather to be regarded as a Christmas +piece, an imitation of the Yule-tide mummeries acted by disguised +villagers or townsfolk at the houses of such wealthier persons as would +afford them hospitality. + +The following list of Oxford plays--compiled, with additions, from W. L. +Courtney's article in _Notes and Queries_ for December 11th, 1886, and +W. Carew Hazlitt's _Manual of English Plays_--may be of interest, as +showing the frequency of dramatic entertainments at the various colleges +between 1547 and the Restoration. The dates appended are in most cases +those of presentation; but when these are either unknown, or impossible +to distinguish from dates of entry at Stationers' Hall, I have +substituted the latter. + + 1547. _Archipropheta_, sive _Joannes Baptista_, by Nicholas Grimald, + in Ch. Ch. Hall. + + 1566. _Marcus Geminus_, by (?) in Ch. Ch. Hall. + + 1566. _Palæmon and Arcyte_, by Richard Edwards, in Ch. Ch. Hall. + + 1566. _Ariosto_, by Geo. Gascoigne, at Trin. Coll. + + 1566. _Progne_, by Dr. James Calfhill, in Ch. Ch. Hall. + + ? 1580. _Ulysses Redux_, by William Gager, in Ch. Ch. Hall. + + 1581. _Meleager_, by William Gager, in Ch. Ch. Hall. + + 1582. _Supposes_, translated from Ariosto, by Geo. Gascoigne, at + Trin. Coll. + + 1582. _Julius Cæsar_, by Dr. Geddes, in Ch. Ch. Hall. + + 1583. _Rivales_, by William Gager, in Ch. Ch. Hall. + + 1583. _Dido_, by William Gager, in Ch. Ch. Hall. + + ? _Tancred_, by H. Wotton, at Queen's Coll. + + ? _Kermophus_, by George Wild (?) at (?) + + 1591. _Kynes Redux_, by William Gager, in Ch. Ch. Hall. + + 1592. _Bellum Grammaticale_, sive _Nominum Verborumque Discordia + Civilis_, by (?) at Ch. Ch. + + ? 1602. _Hamlet_, by W. Shakspere, at (?). + + 1602. _Narcissus_, by (?) at S. John's College. + + 1605. _Ajax Flagellifer_, by (?) at (?). + + 1605. _Alba_, by (?) in Ch. Ch. Hall. + + 1605. _Vertumnus_, sive, _Annus Recurrens Oxonii_, by Dr. Matthew + Gwinne, in Ch. Ch. Hall. + + 1606. _The Queen's Arcadia_, by Samuel Daniel, in Ch. Ch. Hall. + + 1607. _Cæsar and Pompey_, by (?) at Trin. Coll. + + 1607. _The Christmas Prince_, by divers hands, at S. John's Coll. + + 1608. _Yule-tide_, by (?) at Ch. Ch. + + 1614. _Spurius_, by Peter Heylin, at Hart Hall. + + 1617. _Technogamia_, by Barten Holiday, at Ch. Ch. + + 1617-8. _Philosophaster_, by R. Burton, at Ch. Ch. + + 1631. _The Raging Turk_, by Thomas Goffe, at Ch. Ch. + + 1632. _The Courageous Turk_, by Thomas Goffe, at Ch. Ch. + + 1633. _Fuimus Troes_, by Dr. Jasper Fisher, at Magd. Coll. + + 1633. _Orestes_, by Thomas Goffe, at Ch. Ch. + + ? 1634. _The Sophister_, by R. Zouch, at (?). + + 1634-5. _Euphormus_, sive, _Cupido Adultus_, by Geo. Wilde, at S. John's + Coll. + + 1636. _Stonehenge_, by John Speed, at S. John's Coll. + + 1636. _The floating Island_, by William Strode, at Ch. Ch. + + 1636. _Love's Hospital_ (or, _The Hospital of Lovers_), by Geo. Wilde, + at S. John's Coll. + + 1636. _The Royal Slave_, by William Cartwright, at Ch. Ch. + + 1637. _The Converted Robber_, by Geo. Wilde, at S. John's College. + + ? 1640. _Pharamus_, sive, _Libido Vindex_ (also published under the + title of _Thibaldus_, sive _Vindictæ Ingenium_), by Thomas + Snelling, at (?). + + 1648. _Stoicus Vapulans_, by (?) at S. John's Coll. + + 1648. _Amorous War_, by Jasper Maine, D.D., at (?). + + ? _The Scholar_, by Richard Lovelace, at Gloucester Hall. + (Prologue and Epilogue appear in _Lucasta_, 1649.) + + 1651. _The Lady Errant_, by William Cartwright, at (?). + + 1653. _The Inconstant Lady_, by Arthur Wilson, at Trin. Coll. (?) + + 1654. _The Combat of Love and Friendship_, by Robt. Mead, at Ch. Ch. + + 1660. _The Christmas Ordinary_, by W. R., M.A., at Trin. Coll. + + 1660. _The Guardian_, by (?) at "new dancing-school against S. + Michael's Church." (Wood, iii. 705.) + + 1663. _Flora's Vagaries_, by Richard Rhodes, at Ch. Ch. + +This catalogue does not, of course, pretend to be exhaustive. An +examination of the various college archives would doubtless afford +further material. There exists, for instance, the record of performances +at Merton; cf. G. C. Brodrick's _Memorials of Merton College_ (Oxford +Hist. Soc., 1885), p. 67: "In January and February, 1566-7, two dramatic +performances were given in the Warden's lodgings by members of the +foundation ... the one being an English comedy, and the other Terence's +_Eunuchus_.... Again, in 1568, a play of Plautus was acted in the hall." + +It will be seen that of the above-mentioned plays six, besides +_Narcissus_, were performed at the College of S. John the Baptist, the +first recorded being the _Christmas Prince_ in 1607, the succeeding ones +taking place after an interval of twenty-six years; and to these we +should very probably add _Pharamus_, the writer of which, Thomas +Snelling, "became Scholar of S. John's in 1633, aged 19, and afterwards +fellow ... and was esteemed an excellent Latin poet." (Wood, _Ath. Ox._, +vol. iii., p. 275.) + +A passage from Wake's _Rex Platonicus_ (ed. 1, p. 18) is also worthy of +note in this connection: "Quorum primos jam ordines dum principes +contemplantur, primisque congratulantium acclamationibus delectantur, +Collegium Diui Iohannis, nobile literarum domicilium (quod Dominus +Thomas Whitus Prætor olim Londinensis, opimis reditibus locupletârat) +faciles eorum oculos speciosæ structuræ adblanditione invitat; moxque et +oculos & aures detinet ingeniosâ nec injucundâ lusiunculâ quâ +clarissimus præses cum quinquaginta, quos alit Collegium studiosis, +magnaque studentium conuiventium cateruâ prodeuns, principes in transitu +salutandos censuit. + +"Fabulæ ansam dedit antiqua de Regia prosapia historiola apud +Scoto-Britannos celebrata, quæ narrat tres olim Sibyllas occurrisse +duobus Scotiæ proceribus Macbetho & Banchoni, & illum prædixisse Regem +futurum, sed Regem nullum geniturum, hunc Regem non futurum, sed Reges +geniturum multos. Vaticinii veritatem rerum eventus comprobavit: +Banchonis enim è stirpe Potentissimus Iacobus oriundus. Tres +adolescentes concinno Sibyllarum habitu induti, è Collegio prodeuntes, & +carmina lepida alternatim canentes, Regi se tres esse illas Sibyllas +profitentur, quæ Banchoni olim Sobolis imperia prædixerant, jamque +iterum comparere, vt eâdem vaticinij veritate prædicerent Iacobo, se +iam, & diu regem futurum Britanniæ felicissimum & multorum Regum +parentem, vt ex Banchonis stirpe nunquam sit hæres Britannico diademati +defuturus. Deinde tribus Principibus suaves felicitatum triplicitates +triplicatis carminum vicibus succinentes veniamque precantes, quòd +alumni ædium Divi Iohannis (qui præcursor Christi) alumnos Ædis Christi +(quo tum Rex tendebat) præcursoriâ hâc salutatione antevertissent, +Principes ingeniosâ fictiunculâ delectatos dimittunt; quos inde vniversa +astantium multitudo, felici prædictionum successui suffragans, votis +precibusque ad portam vsque civitatis Borealem prosequitur." + + * * * * * + +The _Christmas Prince_ is, properly speaking, not a single play, but a +collection of performances consequent on the revival of the old custom, +left in abeyance since 1577, of choosing a prince, or master of the +revels, who should exercise undisputed authority during the festive +season, and in whose honour the company at large should indulge freely +in various sorts of pastimes. The account given of this revival, in +1607, seems to imply that there had been of late years no Christmas +festivities at S. John's. In 1602 the college porter, pleading for the +admission of players on Twelfth Night, could say: + + "Christmas is now at the point to bee past; + 'Tis giving vp the ghost and this is the last; + And shall it passe thus without life or cheere? + This hath not beene seene this many a yeere." + +Without laying too much stress upon a single allusion, it is safe to +assert that the discovery of the comedy of _Narcissus_, played five +years earlier than the performances of which an account is given in the +_Christmas Prince_, must be of considerable interest in the history of +S. John's, and indeed in that of Oxford play-acting generally. + +The MS. containing this comedy is one of the Rawlinson collection, now +in the possession of the Bodleian Library. The volume, which is 5½ × 4 +inches in size, with 156 leaves, appears to have been the commonplace +book of an Oxford man. It contains a variety of English poems and prose +pieces, written at the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the +seventeenth century; amongst them several pages of extracts from the +essays of Bacon and of his less-known contemporary Robert Johnson. Sir +H. Wotton's poem, "How happy is he borne or taught," also finds a place +in the collection. But the majority of the contents are of small +literary value, and, so far as I am aware, have never been published. +Perhaps the most interesting pieces in the volume are certain "English +Epigrammes much like Buckminster's Almanacke ... calculated by John +Davis of Grayes Inne ... 1594" of the character of which the following +lines, occurring early in the series, may give some idea. + + +_Of a Gull._ + + "Oft in my laughinge rimes I name a gull, + But this new tearme will many questions breed, + Therefore at first I will describe at full + Who is a true & perfect gull indeede. + + "A gull is hee that weares a velvett gowne, + And when a wench is brave dare not speake to her; + A gull is hee that traverseth the towne, + And is for marriage knowne a common wooer. + + "A gull is hee that, when he proudly weares + A silver hilted rapier by his side, + Endures the lye and knocks about the eares, + Whilst in his sheath his sleepinge sword doth bide. + + "A gull is hee that hath good handsome cloaths, + And stands in presence stroking vpp his haire, + And fills vpp his imperfecte speech with oathes, + But speaks not one wise woord throughout the yeere. + But, to define a gull in tearms precise, + A gull is hee that seemes, and is not, wise." + +That the play now under consideration is the work of some member or +members of the college of S. John's there can be no doubt. It is, as the +Prologue affirms, "Ovid's owne Narcissus," _i.e._, the story of +Narcissus as told in the third book of the _Metamorphoses_, which forms +the basis of the plot; and the resemblance to the Latin is in parts so +close as necessarily to imply a knowledge of that language on the part +of the writer. There is, indeed, one passage of literal and yet graceful +translation (see ll. 494-505) which especially betokens a scholarly +hand. + +But it has been already hinted that the chief interest of the comedy +lies in another direction. The arrangement and methods are those of the +rough-and-ready English stage of the period; and as in the Pyramus and +Thisbe interlude of the _Midsummer Night's Dream_, and the Nine Worthies +of _Love's Labour's Lost_, the writer imitates and ridicules that naïve +realism which appertained to native comedy in its rude embryonic forms. +The absurdities with which the _Narcissus_ abounds are obviously +intentional; it is, in fact, a burlesque, not skilful nor humorous +enough to take its place beside the immortal parodies of Shakspere, +which in aim and scope it resembles, but a good average specimen of its +class, doubtless provocative of intense delight in the minds of a +contemporary audience. It is, of course, with a view to heightening the +reality of the effect that the Porter is made to plead on behalf of +certain "youths of the parish," who are waiting, armed with their +wassail-bowl, for admittance into the hall, and who, besides a song, +have "some other sporte too out of dowbt" for the delectation of the +assembled guests. Then follows, first the song, and afterwards an +altercation in prose between the Porter and the Players, who assume an +air of bashfulness when called upon to exercise their dramatic talent. +Finally, the Prologue enters, and the play is begun; the general +smoothness of the versification standing out in contrast to the +intentional doggerel of the Porter's introductory speech and epilogue. + +The mention of "youths of the parish" is probably not serious; but as an +allusion to a real play of the kind here imitated, the following extract +from the _Christmas Prince_ (ed. 1816, p. 25) may be of interest: "S. +Steevens day was past over in silence, and so had S. John's day also; +butt that some of the princes honest neighbours of S. Giles presented +him with a maske or morris, which though it were but rudely performed, +yet itt being so freely & lovingly profered it could not but bee as +lovingly received." + + * * * * * + +I shall now pass on to the consideration of the play itself, and, first, +of the characters which make up the list of _dramatis personæ_. Five of +these, namely, Tiresias, Cephisus, Narcissus, Echo, and Liriope, appear +in the story of Narcissus as told by Ovid. Cephisus, son of Pontus and +Thalassa, and divinity of the river whence he derives his name, is the +father of the hero; the nymph Liriope is his mother. Tiresias, the blind +prophet of Thebes, and Echo, the unhappy victim of the anger of Juno and +the contempt of Narcissus, are well-known figures in classical +mythology. Neither Dorastus and Clinias, who attend Narcissus as +youthful friends, nor Florida and Clois, nymphs enamoured of his beauty, +have any actual counterparts in the _Metamorphoses_. + +Most curious and interesting is the inclusion of "The Well" in the list +of characters. We have here no mere stage property, or piece of scenery, +but an actual personification of an inanimate object, closely resembling +that of Wall and Moonshine in Peter Quince's company. Just as Moonshine +carries a lantern to represent more vividly the actual moon, so the +personage called The Well aids the imagination of his audience by the +visible sign of a water-bucket. The fact of his being enumerated amongst +the _dramatis personæ_ shows that the part was played by a separate +artist, and not doubled with that of any other character. Of the Porter, +Francis, more will be said in Section II. + + * * * * * + +The play of _Narcissus_, though it can boast of no artificial divisions, +falls naturally into twelve different portions, which for want of a +better term I will call scenes. Whilst using this word it is necessary +to bear in mind that no change of _scenery_ is implied, and probably +none was intended. + +_Scene I._ reveals Cephisus, Liriope, and Narcissus, awaiting the +prophet Tiresias. It consists of 132 lines, amplified from _Met._ iii. +341, 346-348: + + "Prima fide vocisque ratæ tentamina sumsit + Cærula Liriope ... + ... De quo consultus, an esset + Tempora maturæ visurus longa senectæ + Fatidicus vates--'Si se non viderit' inquit." + +The introduction of Cephisus, the conversation between Narcissus and his +parents, the telling of the youth's fate _by the aid of chiromancy_, and +Liriope's scornful comment on the prophecy, are the materials used by +the English writer to form an effective scene. + +_Scene II._ is wholly an interpolation. Dorastus and Clinias also try +their fate with Tiresias; he prophesies their early death, and they jest +upon the subject. + +_Scene III._, in which Dorastus and Clinias flatter Narcissus for his +beauty, has no counterpart in Ovid. Probably, however, it was suggested +by _Met._ iii. 353-355: + + "Multi illum juvenes, multæ cupiere puellæ; + Sed fuit in tenera tam dira superbia forma; + Nulli illum juvenes, nullæ tetigere puellæ." + +_Scene IV._ pursues a like theme; the nymphs Florida and Clois are in +their turn repulsed by the scornful youth, and relate their woes to +Dorastus and Clinias. + +The hint for this is given in _Met._ iii. 402: + + "Sic hanc, sic alias undis aut montibus ortas + Luserat hic Nymphas." + +And likewise the suggestion of Florida's revengeful wish: + + "Inde manus aliquis despectus ad æthera tollens + 'Sic amet ipse licet, sic non potiatur amato!' + Dixerat." + +_Scene V._ Echo enters, and gives an account of herself, amplified--with +a very free use of the English vernacular--from _Met._ iii. 356-368. + +_Scene VI._, which has no counterpart in Ovid, consists of a spirited +hunting-song in five stanzas, sung (presumably) while Narcissus, +Dorastus, and Clinias chase a supposed hare over the stage. + +_Scene VII._ introduces the "one with a bucket," _i.e._, The Well. The +first twelve lines of his speech are a literal and smoothly-versified +translation of _Met._ iii. 407-412. In Ovid, however, this description +of the well comes after the conversation between Echo and Narcissus, and +the account proceeds at once (l. 413) with: + + "Hic puer, et studio venandi lassus et æstu, + Procubuit." + +It is doubtful why the English writer should have preferred to introduce +the Well thus early. With Ovid's lines may be compared those in the +translation of the _Romaunt of the Rose_ attributed to Chaucer: + + "----Springyng in a marble stone, + Had nature set the sothe to tel + Under that pyne tree a wel. + + * * * * * + + Aboute it is grasse springyng + For moyste so thycke and wel lykyng, + That it ne may in wynter dye + No more than may the see be drye. + + * * * * * + + For of the welle this is the syne, + In worlde is none so clere of hewe, + The water is euer fresshe and newe + That welmeth vp with wawes bright." + +_Scene VIII._ consists of a dialogue between Dorastus and Echo. + +_Scene IX._ continues the same theme, Clinias being substituted for +Dorastus. Both these scenes are interpolations, introduced evidently for +the amusement of the audience rather than for any bearing on the main +plot. + +_Scene X._ Here Narcissus delivers himself of a soliloquy, suggested by +_Met._ iii. 479: + + "Forte puer, comitum seductus et agmine fido, + Dixerat"-- + +He is answered by Echo, who wishes to proffer him her affection. The +conversation, gathered from Ovid, runs as follows: + + "Ecquis adest? + Adest. + Veni! + Veni! + Quid me fugis? + Quid me fugis? + Huc Coëamus! + Coeämus!" + +This, with various amplifications, is followed in ll. 602-630 of the +_Narcissus_. + +Here, however, there is no reproduction of Ovid's account: + + "Et verbis favet ipsa suis, egressaque silvis + Ibat, ut injiceret sperato brachia collo. + Ille fugit, fugiensque manus complexibus aufert." + +which leads on to and explains the next speech of Narcissus: + + "'Ante' ait 'emoriar, quam sit tibi copia nostri.'" + +rendered in the English by: + + "Let mee dye first ere thou meddle with mee." + +This terminates the interview; Echo does not seem to make any appearance +on the stage. The few lines which, in Ovid, describe the effect of her +hopeless love, are partly followed in ll. 740-747 of the English play. + +_Scene XI._ Dorastus and Clinias abuse, fight with, and finally kill +each other. + +_Scene XII._ Narcissus enters, _fleeing from Echo_ (a connecting touch +not found in Ovid). His speech, on discovering the well, is a mixture of +the description of his transports in the _Metamorphoses_, and of the +soliloquy there attributed to him. ll. 697-707 of the _Narcissus_ +correspond word for word to _Met._ iii. 442-450. + +It is remarkable that the use of the name of the goddess of corn instead +of bread itself ("Cereris," l. 437) should have suggested to the English +writer a similar metaphorical use of the names of Morpheus and Bacchus. +Another small point worthy of note is the introduction of a jest into +the midst of this mournful scene; Ovid's: + + "Et, quantum motu formosi suspicor oris, + Verba refers aures non pervenientia nostras" + +being irreverently rendered by: + + "And by thy lippes moving, well I doe suppose + Woordes thou dost speake, may well come to our nose; + For to oure eares I am sure they never passe." + +Ovid's Narcissus discovers his own identity with the vision (_Met._ iii. +463), which the English version ignores; while, on the other hand, the +prophecy of ll. 730-731: + + "I, which whilome was + The flower of youth, shalbee made flower againe" + +finds no counterpart in Ovid. + +Many of the reflections and entreaties ascribed to Narcissus in the +Latin version are omitted in the English; neither is there any mention +of the beating of the breast (_Met._ iii. 480-485). The final +conversation with Echo is given thus by Ovid: + + Eheu! + Eheu! + Heu frustra dilecte puer! + Heu frustra dilecte puer! + Vale! + Vale! + +The English writer somewhat amplifies this, Echo being always a +favourite stage-character. The rising up of Narcissus after death is an +English expedient; so is Echo's return to give a final account of +herself, the matter of which is suggested, as has been said, by _Met._ +iii. 393-401. + +So much for the classical basis of the play; it remains to notice +briefly the points in which it resembles an English comedy, or shows +traces of the influence of other English writers. Most remarkable in the +latter connection is the frequent coincidence of expressions between the +_Narcissus_ and Shakspere's _Henry IV._ (Part 1.). Amongst these are the +following: + + L. 78. Ladds of metall. Cf. 1 _Henry IV._, ii. 4, 13. + 80. No vertue extant " ii. 4, 132. + 111. I tickle (them) for " ii. 4, 489. + 422. Never ioyd (it) since " ii. 1, 13. + 575. Kee (= quoth) pickpurse " ii. 1, 53. + 734. (My) grandam earth " iii. 1, 34. + +See also the notes on ll. 282, 396, and 683. + +As _Henry IV._ was entered at Stationers' Hall February 25th, 1597, and +the first quarto appeared in 1598, it is quite possible that these may +be direct borrowings on the part of the writer of the _Narcissus_. + +A common trick of English burlesque at this time (cf. _Midsummer Night's +Dream_, v. 1, 337, etc.) was the inversion of epithets, producing +nonsensical combinations; an expedient which, if we condemn it as poor +wit, we must at least allow to fall under the definition of humour as +"the unexpected." A good example of this occurs in ll. 360, 361: + + "So cruell as the huge camelion, + Nor yet so changing as small elephant." + +And another in ll. 677, 678: + + "But oh, remaine, and let thy christall lippe + No more of this same cherrye water sippe." + +Sarcastic allusions are also not wanting; see, for instance, the +cheerful inducement held out to Narcissus: + + "As true as Helen was to Menela, + So true to you will bee thy Florida." + +And cf. the notes on ll. 337, 342. + +There are several facetious mistakes in the forms of words, such as +_spoone_ for moon (l. 350), _Late-mouse_ for Latmus (l. 279), and +_Davis_ for Davus (l. 400); of which the first recalls Ancient Pistol's +"Cannibals" (2 _Henry IV._ ii. 4, 180), or the contrary slip in _Every +Man in his Humour_, iii. 4, 53, and the two latter, Bottom's "Shafalus" +and "Procrus," and the blunders of Costard. + +The naïve devices by which the players seem to have made up for some +paucity of accoutrements and stage appliances, and their direct appeals +to the intelligence of the audience to excuse all defects, are highly +edifying. There is, as I have before remarked, no indication of any +scenery; and the only characters whom we know to have worn a special +dress are Tiresias and Liriope. The prophets of classical history were +often converted into bishops by English writers; so, for example, +Helenus, son of Priam, in the fourteenth century alliterative _Gest +Hystoriale of Troy_. This is why Tiresias wears a bishop's rochet. It is +unfortunate that the collection of robes now in the possession of St. +John's College does not include a garment of this description. + +Liriope has a symbolical costume, which she very carefully interprets to +Narcissus: + + "And I thy mother nimphe, as may bee seene + By coulours that I weare, blew, white, and greene; + For nimphes ar of the sea, and sea is right + Of coulour truly greene and blew and white. + Would you knowe how, I pray? Billowes are blew, + Water is greene, and foome is white of hue." + +Cephisus is content to carry the emblems of his origin, which he +emphasizes at the same time by representative action: + + "Thy father I, Cephisus, that brave river + Who is all water, doe like water shiver. + As any man of iudgment may descrye + By face, hands washt, and bowle, thy father I." + +In the same way Narcissus, rising up after his supposed death, bears a +daffodil as a sign of his metamorphosis, addressing the audience after a +manner more brusque than polite: + + "If you take mee for Narcissus y'are very sillye, + I desire you to take mee for a daffa downe dillye; + For so I rose, and so I am in trothe, + As may appeare by the flower in my mouthe." + +Echo gives her reasons somewhat confidentially: + + "But ho, the hobby horse, youle think't absurde + That I should of my selfe once speake a woord. + 'Tis true; but lett your wisdomes tell me than, + How'de you know Eccho from another man?" + +And at the conclusion of the play she kindly directs the imagination of +the spectators into the right channel: + + "Now auditors of intelligence quicke, + I pray you suppose that Eccho is sicke"---- + +and craves their applause by a skilful ruse. + +Tiresias makes his exit at an early stage in the play, addressing +congratulations to himself: + + "Goe, thou hast done, Tyresias; bidd adieu; + Thy part is well plaid and thy wordes are true." + +As a last instance of this naïve custom, Florida's words at the end of +the short part assigned to herself and Clois may be cited: + + "Looke you for maids no more, our parte is done, + Wee come but to be scornd, and so are gone." + +Both the songs contained in the play have a considerable amount of +vivacity and vigour, though they fall short of actual lyrical beauty. +The first and longer of the two is a drinking-song with a refrain of +eight lines, written in a lively and irregular, but not ill-handled +metre; the second, a hunting-song of five stanzas, with the chorus +"Yolp" in imitation of the cry of the dogs. Besides these, which may +very possibly have been in existence before the play was written, the +effusion of Dorastus on meeting Narcissus ("Cracke eye strings cracke," +l. 305) is lyrical in character. + +Taken as a whole, it will be seen that the comedy of _Narcissus_ is +rather interesting for its quaintness, its humour, and its apparent +borrowings from, and undoubted resemblances to, Shakspere, than for any +intrinsic literary value. In spite of this, I cannot but hope that those +who now study it for the first time, though they may have "seene a +farre better play at the theater," will not find reason to condemn it as +wholly dull and unprofitable. + + +SECTION II. + +It only remains to say a few words with regard to the four pieces which +I have included in the present volume. + +These occur in the same MS. as the _Narcissus_, and taken with it appear +to form a united group, by virtue of their common connection with S. +John's College. It is true that the Porter who acts so prominent a part +in the admission of the supposed players reveals to us only his +Christian name, Frances (see last line of Epilogue), but it is hardly +possible to doubt his identity with the Francke (or Francis) Clarke, the +porter of S. John's, to whom the remarkable productions above-mentioned +are attributed. After several vain attempts to discover the record of +this man's tenure of office, I have chanced upon his name in Mr. A. +Clark's _Register of the University of Oxford_, vol. ii. (1571-1622), +pt. 1, p. 398, where it occurs in the list of "personæ privilegiatæ," a +term including, in its widest sense, all persons who enjoyed the +immunities conferred by charter on the corporation of the University, +but technically used to describe certain classes to whom these +immunities were granted by special favour; as, for example, the college +servants, of whom the manciple, cook, and porter or janitor, were +amongst the chief. + +The entry is as follows: + + "8 May 1601, S. Jo., Clark, Francis; Worc., pleb. f., 24; 'janitor.'" + +From this we gather that Francis Clark had not been long appointed to +his office; that he was twenty-four years of age, a Worcestershire man, +and of humble birth. + +Judging by the internal evidence of the MS. now under consideration, we +may very naturally suppose that the porter, a worthy possessed of a +shrewd wit and somewhat combative temperament, enjoyed high favour +amongst the undergraduates, though often in disgrace with their +superiors; and that for his benefit (in the case of the first and fourth +pieces), and for their own (in the case of the third), the wags of the +college composed certain apologies, which Francis Clarke was clever +enough to commit to memory, and confident enough to pronounce before the +Head in the character of a privileged humourist. The last of the pieces +seems to have been written down and delivered as a letter; and some or +all may be the products of the same pen as wrote the _Narcissus_. That +they were not written by the porter himself is evident; for over and +above the mere improbability that a college servant would be capable of +such frequent reference to Lilly, we have the testimony of the headings, +two of which bear mention of "a speech _made for_ the foresaid porter," +and "a letter _composed for_ Francke Clarke." It is very possible that +the porter's part in the _Narcissus_ may have been specially designed +for, and entrusted to, the worthy Francis. + + * * * * * + +Of these four pieces, the apology addressed to "Master President, that +had sconc't him 10 groates for lettinge the fidlers into the hall at +Christmas," occurs next to the play in the MS., and was probably the +result of some mock trial and sentence forming a part of the Christmas +festivities. If we could suppose the "fidlers" to have been the same as +the players, a still closer connection would be established between +this speech and the comedy; but there is no mention of any dramatic +entertainment in the circumstantial account of their entrance and exit +given by the porter. + +The other pieces have no apparent connection with Christmas time, and +the last, being addressed to Laud during the year of his proctorship, +fixes its own date as 1603-4. The speech _To the Ladie Keneda_ is the +most puzzling of the group, inasmuch as it bears no reference to +collegiate life, and deals with a subject of some obscurity. _Kennedy_ +was the family name of the earls of Cassilis; and the fifth earl, then +living, had married in 1597 Jean, daughter of James, fourth Lord +Fleming, and widow of Lord Chancellor Maitland. But whether she is the +"Ladie Keneda" to whom Francis Clarke pleads on behalf of her cook +Piers, it is impossible to say. Neither have I found out anything +concerning the annual holiday for cooks, to which allusion seems to be +made. Here, however, as in the other speeches, a wide margin must be +allowed for euphuism, and bare facts are difficult to deduce. + +I have refrained from supplying references to the numerous classical +quotations with which the speeches are embellished, for the simple +reason that a contemporary edition of Lilly's Grammar will be found to +include them all. Doubtless the youthful composers derived a special +delight from the process of making "Lilly leape out of his skinne," with +a "muster of sentences" of which the porter's supposed use and +interpretation is, if not always scholarly, at least decidedly +ingenious. + + + + +A TWELFE NIGHT MERRIMENT. + +ANNO 1602. + + +_Enter the_ Porter _at the end of supper._ + + _Porter._ + + MASTER and Mistris with all your guests, [F. 81v rev.] + God save you, heerin the matter rests; + Christmas is now at the point to bee past, + 'Tis giving vp the ghost & this is the last; + And shall it passe thus without life or cheere? + This hath not beene seene this many a yeere. + If youl have any sporte, then say the woord, + Heere come youths of the parish that will it affoord, + They are heere hard by comminge alonge, + Crowning their wassaile bowle with a songe: [10] + They have some other sport too out of dowbt, + Let mee alone, & I will finde it out. + I am your porter & your vassaile, + Shall I lett in the boyes with their wassaile? + Say: they are at doore, to sing they beginne, + Goe to then, Ile goe & lett them in! + +_Enter the wassaile, two of them bearinge the bowle, & singinge the +songe, & all of them bearing the burden._ + +_The Songe._ + + Gentills all + Both great & small, + Sitt close in the hall + And make some roome, [20] + For amongst you heere + At the end of your cheere + With our countrey beare + Wee ar bold to come. + Heers then a full carowse, + Let it goe about the house, + While wee doe carrye it thus + 'Tis noe great labour. + Heave it vpp merilye, [F. 81r rev.] + Let care & anger flye, [30] + A pinne for povertye; + Drinke to your neighbour. + + Those that are wise, + Doe knowe that with spice + God Bacchus his iuyce + Is wholsome & good. + It comforts age, + It refresheth the sage, + It rebateth rage, + And cheereth the bloud. [40] + Heeres then a full, &c. + + Take it with quicknes, + Tis phisicke for sicknes, + It driveth the thicknes + Of care from the harte; + The vaynes that are empty + It filleth with plenty, + Not one amongst twenty + But it easeth of smarte. + Heers then a full, &c. [50] + + Are you sadd, + For fortune badd, + And would bee gladd + As ever you were, + If that a quaffe + Doe not make you laffe, + Then with a staffe + Drive mee out of dore. + Heers then a full, &c. + + To tell you his merritts, [60] + Good thoughts it inherites, + It raiseth the spirritts + And quickens the witt; + It peoples the veyns, + It scoureth the reynes, + It purgeth the braines + And maks all things fitte. + Heers then a full, &c. + + It makes a man bold, + It keepes out the cold; [70] + Hee hath all things twice told + Vnto his comforte, + Hee stands in the middle, + The world, hey dery diddle, + Goes round without a fiddle + To make them sporte. + Heers then a full carowse, &c. + + _Por._ Why well said, my ladds of mettall, this is [F. 80v rev.] + somwhat yett, 'tis trimlye done; but what sporte, what merriment, + all dead, no vertue extant? [80] + + _Pri[mus]._ Pray, sir, gett our good Mistris to bestowe something on + us, & wee ar gone. + + _Por._ Talke of that _tempore venturo_; there's no goinge to any + other houses now, your bowle is at the bottome, & that which is left + is for mee. + + _Sec[undus]._ Nay, good Master Porter. + + _Por._ Come, come, daunce vs a morrice, or els goe sell fishe; I + warrant youle make as good a night of it heere as if you had beene + at all the houses in the towne. + + _Ter[tius]._ Nay, pray letts goe, wee can doe nothinge. [90] + + _Por._ Noe! What was that I tooke you all a gabling tother day in + mother Bunches backside by the well there, when Tom at Hobses ranne + vnder the hovell with a kettle on's head? + + _Pri._ Why, you would not have a play, would you? + + _Por._ Oh, by all meanes, 'tis your onely fine course. About it, + ladds, a the stampe, I warrante you a reward sufficient; I tell you, + my little windsuckers, had not a certaine melancholye ingendred with + a nippinge dolour overshadowed the sunne shine of my mirthe, I had + beene I pre, sequor, one of your consorte. But [F. 80r rev.] [100] + wheres gooddy Hubbardes sonne--I saw him in his mothers holliday + cloaths eennow? + + _Sec._ Doe you heere, Master Porter, wee have pittifull nailes in + our shooes; you were best lay something on the grounde, els wee + shall make abhominable scarrs in the face on't. + + _Por. Rem tenes_; well, weele thinke on't. + + _Ter._ It is a most condolent tragedye wee shall move. + + _Por. Dictum puta; satis est quod suffocat._ [110] + + _Sec._ In faith, I tickle them for a good voice. + + _Por. Sufficiente quantitate_, a woord is enough to the wise. + + _Pri._ You have noe butterd beare in the house, have yee? + + _Por._ No, no, trudge, some of the guests are one the point to bee + gone. + + _Sec._ Have you ere a gentlewomans picture in the house, or noe? + + _Por._ Why? [120] + + _Sec._ If you have, doe but hange it yonder, & twill make mee act in + conye. + + _Por._ Well then, away about your geere. + + [_Exeunt._ + +_Enter Prologue._ + + Wee are noe vagabones, wee ar no arrant + Rogues that doe runne with plaies about the country. + Our play is good, & I dare farther warrant [F. 79v rev.] + It will make you more sport then catt in plum tree. + Wee are no saucye common playenge skipiackes, + But towne borne lads, the kings owne lovely subiects. + + This is the night, night latest of the twelve, [130] + Now give vs leave for to bee blith & frolicke, + To morrow wee must fall to digg & delve; + Weele bee but short, long sittinge breeds the collicke. + Then wee beginne, & lett none hope to hisse vs, + The play wee play is Ovid's owne Narcissus. + + +CEPHISUS, LYRIOPE, NARCISSUS. + + [_Cep._] Open thine eares, my sonne, open I bidd + To heare the sound saw which the sage shall reed, + I meane the sage Tyresias, my ducke, + Which shall lay ope to thee thy lott, thy lucke. + Thy father I, Cephisus, that brave river [140] + Who is all water, doe like water shiver. + As any man of iudgment may descrye + By face, hands washt, & bowle, thy father I. + + _Lyr._ And I thy mother nimphe, as may bee seene + By coulours that I weare, blew, white, & greene; + For nimphes ar of the sea, & sea is right + Of colour truly greene & blew & white; + Would you knowe how, I pray? Billowes are blew, + Water is greene, & foome is white of hue. + + _Cep._ Wee both bidd the, Narcisse, our dearest child, [150] + With count'nance sober, modest lookes & milde, + To prophett's wisest woords with tention harken; [F. 79r rev.] + But Sunne is gonne & welkin gins to darken, + Vulcan the weary horses is a shooinge, + While Phebus with queene Thetis is a doinge: + Prophett comes not, letts goe both all & some, + Wee may goe home like fooles as wee did come. + + _Lyr._ O stay deare husband, flowe not away bright water, + The prophett will come by sooner or later. + + _Cep._ Why stand wee heere, as it were cappes a thrumming, [160] + To look for prophett? Prophett is not comminge. + + _Nar._ Sweete running river which Cephisus hight, + Whose water is so cleare, whose waves so bright, + Gold is thy sand and christall is thy current, + Thy brooke so cleare that no vile wind dare stirre in't; + Thou art my father, & thou, sweetest nimphe, + Thou art my mother, I thy sonne, thy shrimpe. + Agree you in one point, to goe or tarrye, + Narcissus must obey, aye, must hee, marye. + + _Cep._ Gush, water, gush! runne, river, from thy channell! [170] + Thou hast a sonne more lovinge then a spanniell; + With watry eyes I see how tis expedient + To have a sonne so wise & so obedient. + Most beauteous sonne, yet not indeede so beautifull + As thou art mannerly & dutifull! + + _Lyr._ See, husband, see, O see where prophett blind + In twice good time is comming heere behind. + + _Cep._ O heere hee is, and now that hee's come nye vs, + Lye close, good wife & sonne, least hee espye vs. + +_Enter_ TYRESIAS. + + All you that see mee heere in byshoppes rochett, [F. 78v rev.] [180] + And I see not, your heads may runne on crotchett, + For ought I knowe, to knowe what manner wight + In this strange guise I am, or how I hight; + I am Tyresias, the not seeing prophett, + Blinde though I bee, I pray lett noe man scoffe it: + For blind I am, yea, blind as any beetle, + And cannot see a whitt, no, nere so little. + Heere ar no eyes, why, they ar in my minde, + Wherby I see the fortunes of mankind; + Who made mee blind? Jove? I may say to you noe; [190] + But it was Joves wife & his sister Juno. + Juno & Jove fell out, both biggest gods, + And I was hee tooke vpp the merrye oddes. + You knowe it all, I am sure, 'tis somewhat common, + And how besides seven yeares I was a woman; + Which if you knowe you doe know all my state: + Come on, Ile fold the fortune of your fate. + + _Lyr._ Tremblinge, Tyresias, I pray you cease to travell, + And rest a little on the groundy gravell. + + _Tyr._ Who ist calls? Speake, for I cannot see. [200] + + _Cep._ Poore frends, sir, to the number of some three. + + _Tyr._ What would you have? + + _Cep._ Why, sir, this is the matter, + To bee plaine with you & not to flatter; + I am the stately river hight Cephise, + Smoother then glasse & softer farre then ice; [F. 78r rev.] + This nimphe before you heere whom you doe see + Is my owne wife, yclipt Lyriope. + Though with the dawbe of prayse I am loath to lome her, + This Ile assure you, the blind poett Homer [210] + Saw not the like amongst his nimphes and goddesses, + Nor in his Iliads, no, nor in his Odysses. + Thinke not, I pray, that wee are come for nought; + Our lovely infant have wee to you brought. + The purple hew of this our iolly striplynge + I would not have you thinke was gott with tiplinge; + Hee is our sonne Narcisse, no common varlett, + Nature in graine hath died his face in skarlett. + Speak then, I pray you, speake, for wee you portune + That you would tell our sunnfac't sonne his fortune. [220] + + _Lyr._ Doe not shrink backe, Narcissus, come & stand, + Hold vpp & lett the blind man see thy hand. + + _Tyr._ Come, my young sonne, hold vp & catch audacitye; + I see thy hand with the eyes of my capacitye. + Though I speake riddles, thinke not I am typsye, + For what I speake I learnde it of a gipsye, + And though I speak hard woords of curromanstike, + Doe not, I pray, suppose that I am franticke. + The table of thy hand is somewhat ragged, + Thy mensall line is too direct and cragged, [230] + Thy line of life, my sonne, is to, to breife, + And crosseth Venus girdle heere in cheife, + And heere (O dolefull signe) is overthwarte + In Venus mount a little pricke or warte. [F. 77v rev.] + Besides heere, in the hillocke of great Jupiter, + Monnsieur la mors lyes lurking like a sheppbiter; + What can I make out of this hard construction + But dolefull dumpes, decay, death, & destruction? + + _Cep._ O furious fates, O three thread-thrumming sisters, + O fickle fortune, thou, thou art the mistres [240] + Of this mishapp; why am I longer liver? + Runne river, runne, & drowne thee in the river. + + _Tyr._ Then sith to thee, my sonne, I doe pronounce ill, + It shall behove thee for to take good counsell, + And that eft soone; wisdoome they say is good, + Your parents ambo have done what they coode, + They can but bringe horse to the water brinke, + But horse may choose whether that horse will drinke. + + _Lyr._ Oh say, thou holy preist of high Apollo, + What harme, what hurt, what chaunge, what chaunce, will [250] + followe, + That if wee can wee may provide a plaster + Of holsome hearbes to cure this dire disaster. + + _Tyr._ If I should tell you, you amisse would iudge it; + I have one salve, one medecine, in my budgett, + And that is this, since you will have mee tell, + If hee himselfe doe never knowe; farewell. [_Exit_ TYR. + + _Lyr._ Mary come out, is his ould noddle dotinge? + Heere is an ould said saw well woorth the notinge; + Shall hee not know himselfe? Who shall hee then? [F. 77r rev.] + My boy shall knowe himselfe from other men, [260] + I, & my boy shall live vntill hee dye, + In spight of prophett & in spight of pye. + It is an ould sawe: That it is too late + When steede is stolne to shutt the stable gate; + Therfore take heed; yet I bethinke at Delph, + One Phibbus walls is written: Knowe thyselfe. + Shall hee not know himselfe, and so bee laught on, + When as Apollo cries, gnotti seauton? [_Exeunt._ + + +DORASTUS. CLINIAS. + + Come, prethy lett vs goe: come, Clinias, come, + And girt thy baskett dagger to thy bumme; [270] + Lett vs, I say, bee packinge, and goe meete + The poore blind prophett stalking in the streete: + Lett us be iogginge quickly. + + _Cli._ Peace, you asse, + I smell the footinge of Tyresias. + +_Enter_ TYRESIAS. + + _Dor._ O thou which hast thy staffe to bee thy tutor, + Whose head doth shine with bright hairs white as pewter, + Like silver moone, when as shee kist her minion + In Late-mouse mont, the swaine yclipt Endimion, + Who, beeing cald Endimion the drowsye, [280] + Slept fifty yeers, & for want of shift was lowsye; [F. 76v rev.] + O thou whose breast, I, even this little cantle, + Is counsells capcase, prudences portmantle, + O thou that pickest wisdome out of guttes + As easy as men doe kernells out of nuttes, + Looke in our midriffs, & I pray you tell vs + Whether wee two shall live & dye good fellowes. + + _Tyr._ How doe you both? + + _Dor._ Well, I thanke you. + + _Tyr._ Are you not sicklye? [290] + + _Cli._ Noe, I thanke God. + + _Tyr._ Yet you shall both dye quicklye. + Goe, thou hast done, Tyresias; bidd adiew; [_Exit._ + Thy part is well plaid & thy wordes are true. + + _Dor._ Shall wee dye quickly, both? I pray what coulour? + Ile bee a diar, thou shalt be a fuller; + Weele cozin the prophett, I my life will pawne yee, + Thou shalt dye whyte, & Ile dye oreng tawnye. + + +_Enter_ NARCISSUS _walkinge_. + + _Cli._ O eyes, what see you? Eyes, bee ever bloud shedd + That turne your Master thus into a codshead. [300] + O eyes, noe eyes, O instruments, O engines, + That were ordain'd to worke your Master's vengeance! + His huge orentall beawty melts my eyeballs + Into rayne dropps, even as sunne doth snowballes. + + _Dor._ Cracke eye strings, cracke, [F. 76r rev.] + Runne eyes, runne backe, + My lovely brace of beagles; + Looke no more on + Yon shininge sunne, + For your eyes are not eagles. [310] + Leave off the chace + My pretty brace, + And hide you in your kennell, + And hunt no more, + Your sight is sore; + Oh that I had some fennell! + + _Nar._ Leave off to bragg, thou boy of Venus bredd, + I am as faire as thou, for white & redd; + If then twixt mee & thee theres no more oddes, + Why I on earth & thou amongst the goddes? [320] + + _Cli._ Thy voice, Narcisse, so softly & so loude, + Makes in mine eares more musicke then a crowde + Of most melodious minstrells, & thy tonge + Is edged with silver, & with iewells strunge; + Thy throate, which speaketh ever & anan, + Is farre more shriller then the pipe of Pan, + Thy weasand pipe is clearer then an organ, + Thy face more faire then was the head of Gorgon, + Thy haire, which bout thy necke so faire dishevells, + Excells the haire of the faire queene of devills, [330] + And thy perfumed breath farr better savours + Then does the sweat hot breath of blowing Mavors; + Thy azur'd veynes blewer then Saturne shine, + And what are Cupids eyes to those of thine? [F. 75v rev.] + Thy currall cheeks hath a farre better lustre + Then Ceres when the sunne in harvest bust her; + Silenus for streight backe, & I can tell yee, + You putt downe Bacchus for a slender bellye. + To passe from braunch to barke, from rine to roote, + Venus her husband hath not such a foote. [340] + + _Dor._ O thou whose cheeks are like the skye so blewe, + Whose nose is rubye, of the sunnlike hue, + Whose forhead is most plaine without all rinkle, + Whose eyes like starrs in frosty night doe twinkle, + Most hollowe are thy eyelidds, & thy ball + Whiter then ivory, brighter yea withall, + Whose ledge of teeth is farre more bright then jett is, + Whose lipps are too, too good for any lettice, + O doe thou condiscend vnto my boone, + Graunt mee thy love, graunt it, O silver spoone, [350] + Silver moone, silver moone. + + _Cli._ Graunt mee thy love, to speake I first begunne, + Graunt mee thy love, graunt it, O golden sunne. + + _Nar._ Nor sunne, nor moone, nor twinkling starre in skye, + Nor god, nor goddesse, nor yet nimphe am I, + And though my sweete face bee sett out with rubye, + You misse your marke, I am a man as you bee. + + _Dor._ A man, Narcisse, thou hast a manlike figure; + Then bee not like vnto the savage tiger, [F. 75r rev.] + So cruell as the huge camelion, [360] + Nor yet so changing as small elephant. + A man, Narcisse, then bee not thou a wolfe, + To devoure my hart in thy mawes griping gulfe, + Bee none of these, & lett not nature vaunt her + That shee hath made a man like to a panther; + A man thou art, Narcisse, & soe are wee, + Then love thou vs againe as wee love thee. + + _Nar._ A man I am, & sweare by gods above + I cannot yett find in my heart to love. + + _Dor._ Cannott find love in hart! O search more narrowe, [370] + Thou well shalt knowe him by his ivory arrowe; + That arrowe, when in breast, my bloud was tunninge, + Broacht my harts barrell, sett it all a runninge, + Which with loves liquor vnles thou doe staunch, + All my lifes liquor will runne out my paunche. + + _Nar._ Why would you have mee love? You talke most oddlye, + Love is a naughty thinge & an ungodlye. + + _Cli._ Is love ungodlye? Love is still a god. + + _Nar._ But in his nonage allwaies vnder rodde. + + _Amb._ O love, Narcissus, wee beseech thee, O love. [380] + + _Nar._ Noe love, good gentiles, Ile assure you, noe love. + +[_Exeunt_ DORASTUS _et_ CLINIAS, _ambulat_ NARCISSUS. + + +_Enter_ FLORIDA, CLOIS. + + Clois, what ist I wis that I doe see, [F. 74v rev.] + What forme doth charme this storme within my breast, + What face, what grace, what race may that same bee, + So faire, so rare, debonaire, breeds this vnrest? + How white, how bright, how light, like starre of Venus + His beames & gleames so streames so faire between vs! + + _Clo._ 'Tis Venus sure, why doe wee stand and palter? + Lett vs goe shake our thighes vpon the altar. + + _Flo._ Most brightest Hasparus, for thou seemst to mee soe, [390] + I, and in very deed thou well maist bee soe, + For as bigg as a man is every plannett, + Although it seemes a farre that wee may spanne it, + Shine thou on mee, sweet plannet, bee soe good + As with thy fiery beames to warme my bloud; + Ile beare thee light, and thinke light of the burthen, + And say, light plannett neare was heavy lurden. + + _Nar._ To speake the truth, faire maid, if you will have vs, + O Oedipus I am not, I am Davus. + + _Clo._ Good Master Davis, bee not so discourteous [400] + As not to heare a maidens plaint for vertuous. + + _Nar._ Speake on a Gods name, so love bee not the theame. + + _Flo._ O, whiter then a dish of clowted creame, + Speake not of love? How can I overskippe + To speake of love to such a cherrye lippe? + + _Nar._ It would beseeme a maidens slender vastitye + Never to speake of any thinge but chastitye. + + _Flo._ As true as Helen was to Menela + So true to thee will bee thy Florida. [F. 74r rev.] + + _Clo._ As was to trusty Pyramus truest Thisbee [410] + So true to you will ever thy sweete Clois bee. + + _Flo._ O doe not stay a moment nor a minute, + Loves is a puddle, I am ore shooes in it. + + _Clo._ Doe not delay vs halfe a minutes mountenance + That ar in love, in love with thy sweet countenance. + + _Nar._ Then take my dole although I deale my alms ill, + Narcissus cannot love with any damzell; + Although, for most part, men to love encline all, + I will not, I, this is your answere finall. + And so farwell; march on doggs, love's a griper, [420] + If I love any, 'tis Tickler & Piper. + Ah, the poore rascall, never ioyd it since + His fellow iugler first was iugled hence, + Iugler the hope; but now to hunte abraode, + Where, if I meete loves little minitive god, + Ile pay his breech vntill I make his bumme ake, + For why, the talke of him hath turnd my stomacke. [_Exit._ + + _Flo._ And is hee gone? Letts goe & dye, sweet Cloris, + For poets of our loves shall write the stories. + +_Enter_ CLINIAS, DORASTUS, _meeting them_. + + _Cli._ Well mett, faire Florida sweete, which way goe you? [430] + + _Flo._ In faith, sweete Clinias, I cannot knowe you. [F. 73v rev.] + + _Dor._ Noe, knowe, but did you see the white Narcisse? + + _Clo._ The whitest man alive a huntinge is; + Hee that doth looke farre whiter then the vilett, + Or moone at midday, or els skye at twilight. + + _Cli._ That is the same, even that is that Narcissus, + Hee that hath love despis'd, & scorned vs. + + _Flo._ Not you alone hee scornes, but vs also; + O doe not greive when maids part stakes in woe. + O, that same youthe's the scummer of all skorne, [440] + Of surquedry the very shooing horne, + Piller of pride, casting topp of contempt, + Stopple of statelines for takinge vente. + Many youthes, many maids sought him to gaine, + Noe youthes, noe maids could ever him obtaine: + Then thus I pray, & hands to heaven vpp leave, + So may hee love & neare his love atcheive. + Looke you for maids no more, our parte is done, + Wee come but to bee scornd, & so are gone. [_Exeunt_. + + _Dor._ But wee have more to doe, that have wee perdie, [450] + Wee must a fish & hunt the hare so hardye, + For even as after hare runnes swiftest beagle, + So doth Narcissus our poore harts corneagle. [_Exeunt_. + + +_Enter_ ECCHO. + + Who, why, wherfore, from whence or what I am, [F. 73r rev.] + Knowe, if you aske, that Eccho is my name, + That cannott speake a woord, nor halfe a sillable, + Vnles you speake before so intelligible. + But ho, the hobby horse, youle think 't absurde + That I should of my selfe once speake a woord. + 'Tis true; but lett your wisdomes tell me than [460] + How'de you know Eccho from another man? + I was a well toung'd nimphe, but what of that? + My mother Juno still to hold in chatte, + With tales of tubbes, from thence I ever strove, + Whiles nimphes abroad lay allwaies vnder Jove. + But oh, when drift was spied, my angry grammer + Made ever since my tottering tongue to stammer; + And now, in wild woods, & in moist mountaines, + In high, tall valleys, & in steepye plaines, + Eccho I live, Eccho, surnam'd the dolefull, [470] + That, in remembrance, now could weepe a bowlfull; + Or rather, if you will, Eccho the sorrowfull, + That, in remembrance, now could weepe a barrowfull. + (_Within. Yolp! yolpe!_) [_Exit clamans Yolpe!_ + + +_Enter_ DORASTUS, NARCISSUS, CLINIAS. + + _Cantantes._ + + Harke, they crye, I heare by that + The doggs have putt the hare from quatte, + Then woe bee vnto little Watt, [F. 72v rev.] + Yolp, yolp, yolp, yolp! + + Hollowe in the hind doggs, hollowe, + So come on then, solla, solla, + And lett vs so blithly followe, [480] + Yolp, &c. + + O, the doggs ar out of sight, + But the crye is my delight; + Harke how Jumball hitts it right, + Yolp, &c. + + Over briars, over bushes; + Whose affeard of pricks & pushes, + Hee's no hunter woorth two rushes, + Yolp, &c. + + But how long thus shall wee wander? [490] + O, the hares a lusty stander, + Follow apace, the doggs are yonder, + Yolp, &c. [_Exeunt._ + + +_Enter one with a buckett and boughes and grasse._ + + A well there was withouten mudd, + Of silver hue, with waters cleare, + Whome neither sheepe that chawe the cudd, + Shepheards nor goates came ever neare; + Whome, truth to say, nor beast nor bird, + Nor windfalls yet from trees had stirrde. + [_He strawes the grasse about the buckett._ + And round about it there was grasse, [F. 72r rev.] [500] + As learned lines of poets showe, + Which by next water nourisht was; [_Sprinkle water._ + Neere to it too a wood did growe, [_Sets down the bowes._ + To keep the place, as well I wott, + With too much sunne from being hott. + And thus least you should have mistooke it, + The truth of all I to you tell: + Suppose you the well had a buckett, + And so the buckett stands for the well; + And 'tis, least you should counte mee for a sot O, [510] + A very pretty figure cald _pars pro toto_. [_Exit._ + + +_Enter_ DORASTUS, ECCHO _answeringe him within_. + + _Dor._ Narcissus? + _Ecc._ Kisse us. + Kisse you; who are you, with a botts take you? + Botts take you. + Botts take mee, you rogue? + You rogue. + Slidd, hee retortes woord for woord. + Woord for woord. + Clinias, prethy, where art thou, Clinias? [520] + In, yee asse. + In where--in a ditch? + Itch. + What is his businesse? [F. 71v rev.] + At his businesse. + You don't tell mee trulye. + You lye. + Say so againe, ile cudgell you duely. + You doe lye. + Of your tearmes you are very full. [530] + Your a very foole. + Doe you crowe, I shall cracke your coxcombe. + Coxcombe. + I shall make you whine & blubber. + Lubber. + Youle make an end & dispatch. + Patch. + Goe to, youle let these woordes passe. + Asse. + If I come to you Ile make you singe a palinodye. [540] + Noddye. + Foole, coxcombe, lubber, patch, & noddye, + Are these good woords to give a bodye? + Doe not provoke me, I shall come. + Come. + Meete mee if you dare. + If you dare. + I come, despaire not. + Spare not. [_Exit._ + + +_Enter_ CLINIAS, ECCHO _answeringe within_. [F. 71r rev.] + + _Cli._ Dorastus, where art thou, Dorastus? [550] + _Ecc._ Asse to vs. + Asse to you, whose that's an asse to you? + You. + Know mee for what I am, as good as your selfe. + Elfe. + Elfe! Why I hope you ben't so malaparte. + All a parte. + All apart, yes, wee ar alone; but you doe not meane to fight, + I trust in Jove? + Trust in Jove. [560] + Jove helpes then if wee fight, but wee trust to our swoordes. + Woordes. + Woordes; why, doe you thinke tis your woordes shall vs affright? + Right. + 'Tis noe such matter, you are mightely out. + Loute. + Lout, dost abuse mee so? Goe to, y'are a scall scabbe. + Rascall scabbe. [570] + Rascall scabbe, why thou groome base & needye! + Niddye. + Slidd, if I meete you Ile bange you. + Hange you. + Ist so; nay then, Ile bee at hand, kee pickpurse. [F. 70v rev.] + Pickpurse. + Dare you vse mee thus to my face, spidar? + I dare. + But will you stand too't & not flintch? + Not flinch. [580] + Well, meete mee, I am like iron & steele, trustye. + Rustye. + Rusty, what, mocke mee to my face againe? + Asse againe. + Out of dowbt, if wee meete I shall thee boxe. + Oxe. + Why, the foole rides mee, I am spurrgald & iolted. + Jolthead. + Jolthead! this is more then I can brooke. + Rooke. [590] + Rooke too, nay then, as farr as a knockinge goes I am yours to + commaund, sir. + Come on, sir. [_Exit._ + + +_Enter_ NARCISSUS. + + O, I am weary; I have runne to daye + Ten miles, nay, 10 & a quarter I dare saye. + You may beleeve it, for my ioyntes are numme, + And every finger truly is a thumbe. + For my younge hunters, Clinias & Dorastus, + Surely so farre to day they have out past vs, [F. 70r rev.] + That heere I am encompast round about, [600] + And doe not knowe the way nor in nor out. + What Holla, holla! + _Ecc._ Holla, holla. + Is any body nye? + I. + Come neere. + Come neere. + Whither? + Hither. + I prethy helpe mee foorth, els I am the rude woods forfeiture. [610] + Faire feature. + O lord, sir, tis but your pleasure to call it soe. + Its soe. + I had rather have your counsell how to gett out of this laborinthe. + Labour in't. + Labour in't, why soe I doe, sore against my will, but to labour out + of it what shall I doe? + Doe. [620] + Nay, pray helpe mee out if you love mee. + Love mee. + Come neere, then, why doe you flye? + Why doe you flye? + Where b'ye? + [F. 69v rev.] Heerbye. + Let vs come together. + Let vs come together. + I prethy come. + I come. [630] + Let mee dye first ere thou meddle with mee. + Meddle with mee. [_Exit._ + + +_Enter_ DORASTUS, CLINIAS, _at_ 2 _doores_. + + _Cli._ Wast you, Dorastus, mockt mee all this season? + + _Dor._ Pray, Clinias, hold your tounge, y'haue little reason + To make a foole of mee & mocke mee too. + + _Cli._ Nay, sir, twas you that mockt mee, so you doe; + While heere I cald for you by greenwood side, + You gibde on mee, which you shall deare abide. + + _Dor._ Nay, you did call mee, that I was loath to heare, + Truly such woords as a dogg would not beare. [640] + But as I scorne so to bee ast & knaved, + Soe truly doe I scorne to bee outbraved. + + _Cli._ O frieng panne of all fritters of fraud, + My scindifer, that longe hath beene vndrawde, + Shall come out of his sheath most fiery hott, + And slice thee small, even as hearbes to pott. + + _Dor._ Thou huge & humminge humblebee, thou hornett, + Come doe thy worst, I say that I doe scorne it. + + _Cli._ O with thy bloud Ile make so redd my whineard, + As ripest liquor is of grapes in vineyearde. [F. 69r rev.] [650] + + _Dor._ And with thy bloud Ile make my swoord so ruddye, + As skye at eventide shall not bee soe bloudye. + [_They fight & fall._ + + _Cli._ O, O, about my harte I feele a paine; + Dorastus, hold thy handes, for I am slaine. + + _Dor._ This shall thy comfort bee when thou art dead, + That thou hast kild mee too, for I am spedd. + + _Cli._ O, I am dead, depart life out of hand, + Stray, soule, from home vnto the Stingian strand. + + _Dor._ Goe thou, my ghost, complaine thee vnto Rhadamant + That the 3 sisters hartes are made of adamant. [660] + + _Cli._ Since wee must passe ore lake in Charons ferry, + Had wee Narcissus wee should bee more merrye. + + _Dor._ My soule doth say that wee must goe before, + Narcisse will overtake vs at the shore; + And that that mockt vs both, deformed dwarfe, + Will er't bee long arive at Charons wharfe. + + _Cli._ Lett us, Dorastus, die, departe, decease; + Wee lovd in strife, & lett vs dye in peace. + + _Dor._ Stay, take mee with you, letts togither goe. + + _Am._ Vild world adieu, wee die, ô ô ô ô! [670] + + +_Enter_ NARCISSUS. + + Does the hagg followe? Stay for her never durst I; + Sh'as made mee runne so longe that I am thurstye, + But O, yee gods immortall, by good fortune [F. 68v rev.] + Heere is a well in good time & oportune; + Drinke, drinke, Narcissus, till thy belly burst, + Water is Rennish wine to them that thirst. + But oh remaine & let thy christall lippe + Noe more of this same cherrye water sippe; + What deadly beautye or what aerye nimphe + Is heare belowe now seated in the limphe? [680] + Looke, looke, Narcissus, how his eyes are silver, + Looke, least those eyes thy hart from thee doe pilfer, + Yet O looke not, for by these eyes so headye, + Thy hart from thee is filcht away allreadye; + O Well, how oft I kisse thy wholsome liquor, + While on my love kisses I heape a dicker. + O love, come foorth accordinge to my mind, + How deepe I dive yet thee I cannott find; + O love, come foorth, my face is not so foule + That thou shouldst scorne mee; pittye mee, poor soule. [690] + Well, dost thou scorne mee? Nimphes they did not soe, + They had a better thought of mee I trowe. + Not care of Ceres, Morpheus, nor of Bacchus, + That is meate, drinke, & sleepe from hence shall take vs; + Heere will I dye, this well shall bee my tombe, + My webb is spunne; Lachesis, loppe thy loome. + [_Lye downe & rise vpp againe._ [F. 68r rev.] + Tell mee, you woods, tell mee, you oakes soe stronge, + Whether in all your life, your life so longe, + So faire a youth pinde thus, & tell mee trulye + Whether that any man ere lov'd so cruellye. [700] + The thinge I like I see, but what I see + And like, natheles I cannot find perdie, + And that that greives my liver most, no seas + Surging, mountaines, monstrous or weary ways, + Nor walls with gates yshutt doe mee remove; + A little water keepes mee from my love. + Come out, come out, deare boye. + + _Ecc._ Come out, deare boye. + + [_Nar._] Thy frend I am, O doe not mee destroye; + Thou dost putt out thy hand as I doe mine, [710] + And thou dost pinke vpon mee with thine eyen, + Smile as I smile; besides I tooke good keepe, + And saw thee eke shedd teares when I did weepe, + And by thy lippes moving, well I doe suppose + Woordes thou dost speake, may well come to our nose; + For to oure eares I am sure they never passe, + Which makes me to crye out, alas! + + _Ecc._ Alas! + + [_Nar._] O delicate pretty youth, + Pretty youth; [720] + Take on my woes pittye, youthe! + Pittye, youthe! + O sweetest boy, pray love mee! [F. 67v rev.] + Pray love mee! + Or els I dye for thee, + I dye for thee! + + [_Nar._] Colour is gone & bloud in face is thinne, + And I am naught left now but bone & skinne; + I dye; but though I dye it shall come to passe, + Certes it shall, that I which whilome was [730] + The flower of youth, shalbee made flower againe. + I dye; farewell, O boy belov'd in vaine. + + [_Ecc._] O boy belov'd in vaine. + [NARCISSUS _risinge vp againe._ + And so I died & sunke into my grandam, + Surnamde old earth: lett not your iudgments randome, + For if you take mee for Narcissus y'are very sillye, + I desire you to take mee for a daffa downe dillye; + For so I rose, & so I am in trothe, + As may appeare by the flower in my mouthe. + + _Ecc._ Now auditors of intelligence quicke, [740] + I pray you suppose that Eccho is sicke; + Sicke at the hart, for you must thinke, + For lacke of love shee could nor eate nor drinke; + Soe that of her nothinge remainde but bone, + And that they say was turn'd into a stone. + Onely her voice was left, as by good happe [F. 67r rev.] + You may perceive if you imparte a clappe. [_Exit._ + + +_Enter the_ Porter _as Epilogue_. + + Are those the ladds that would doe the deede? + They may bee gone, & God bee their speede; + Ile take vpp their buckett, but I sweare by the water, [750] + I have seene a farre better play at the theater. + Ile shutt them out of doores, 'tis no matter for their larges; + Thinke you well of my service, & Ile beare the charges. + If there bee any that expecte some dances, + 'Tis I must perform it, for my name is Frances. + + +FINIS. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +I. + + _A speech made for the foresaid porter, who [F. 84r rev.] + pronounc't it in the hall before most of the house and Master + Præsident, that had sconc't him 10 groates for lettinge the fidlers + into the hall at Christmas._ + +Ille ego qui quondam, I am hee that in ould season have made Lilly leape +out of his skinne, & with a muster of sentences out of his syntaxis have +besieged the eares of the audience in the behalfe of the wretched. But +alas!--Mihi isthic nec seritur nec metitur; it is to mee neither a +sorrye turne nor a merrye turne. I have sifted out for other mens sakes +the flower of my fancye, that I have left nothing but the branne in my +braine. And yet who is there amongst them that in the depth of my +distresse will speake for the poore porter, who meltes [10] the muses +into mourninge or turnes Parnassus into plaintes, Hellicon into +heavines, Apollo into an apollogie, for my sake? My learninge goeth not +beyond Lillye, nor my reading beyond my rules, yet have I for them so +canvast their concavitye that I have opened their entraills, so dived +into the depth of them that I have manifested their marrowe, soe pried +into their profunditye that I have plac't the verye pith of them before +you. And, alas that I should [F. 83v rev.] now speake for my +selfe, what remaines for mee but the rinde & the barke, when I have +given the roote & [20] the bodye to others? What remaines for mee but +the shell, when I have given others the substaunce, what remaines for +mee but the curdes, when I have given others the creame? Yea, what is +left for mee but the paringes, when I have given others the peares? But +I therin made knowen my valour, for you knowe, Aliorum vitia cernere +oblivisci suorum, to supplye other mens wants & to forgett his owne, +proprium est stultitiæ, is the parte of a stoute man; since then I must +speake for my selfe, Stat mihi casus renovare omnes; you shall [30] +heare the whole cause, case, and the course of it. + +Sub nocte silenti, (i) in nocte vel paulo ante noctem, cum spectatur in +ignibus aurum; when you might have seene gold in the fier, the fier +shin'de so like gold, Ecce per opaca locorum, came the fidlers creeping +alonge, densa subter testudine casus, their instruments vnder their +arms, in their cases, & at lenghe, Itum est in viscera terræ, broke open +into the harte of the hall; neither when they were there could they bee +content to [F. 83r rev.] warme their fingers by the fier and bee gone, +though I [40] would have persuaded them thereto, but Iuvat vsque morari +et conferre gradum; they would needes staye & the youth daunce; but oh +to see, woe to see, that pleasure is but a pinch and felicitye but a +phillippe; when as Juvat ire per altum, some were cutting capers aloft +in the ayre, canit similiter huic, and they likewise with their +minstrelsey fitting it to their footing, all on a suddaine, Subito I may +say to them, but Repente to mee, their sporte was spoild, their musicke +marrd, their dauncinge dasht with a vox hominem sonat, with a voyce, +[50] with an awefull voice, Hæccine fieri flagitia; ar these the fruites +of the fires; statur a me, (i) sto, statur ab illis, (i) stant; they +that even now scrap't so fast with their stickes fell now to scraping +faster with their leggs; their fum fum was turn'd to mum mum, and their +pleasaunt melodye to most pittifull making of faces; but when they +look't that their fiddles should have flyen about their eares, their +calveskin cases about their calveshead pates, as the sunne shines +brightest through a shower, so did softnes in the midst of severitye: +[F. 82v rev.] there was noe more [60] said to them but, Teque his ait +eripe flammis; they were best, since they had made many mens heeles +warme with shakinge, to coole their owne by quaking without doore. But +the more mercy was shewed before, the lesse was left for mee. Had I +beene dealt with soe mercifullye, I had not neede to have come with this +exclamation, or had it beene but gratia ab officio, but a groat out of +mine office, I should not have stonied the stones nor rented the rockes +with my dolorous outcryes. + +But when it shall come to denarii dicti quod denos, [70] when tenn +groats shall make a muster togeather and sitte heavy on my head, actum +est ilicet, the porter periit. O weathercoke of wretchednes that I am, +seated on the may-pole of misfortune; whither shall I turne, or to whome +shall I looke for releife? Shall I speake to my minstrells for my money? +Why, they have allready forsaken mee, to the verifieng of the ould +proverbe; Quantum quisque sua nummorum servat in arc[=a], tantum habet +et fidei; as long as a man hath money in his purse, so long hee shall +have the fidlers. What is to bee looked [80] for of them that will doe +nothing without pay, and hard-mony for their harmonye? Shall I speake to +my frends? Why: nullus ad amissas ibit amicus opes. [F. 43r rev.] Oh, +then, lett mee runne to the speare of Achilles (recorded by auncient +philosophers) which first hurt mee and last can heale mee: lett my +penitencye find pittye, and my confession move compassion; if you will +live according to rule, ever after penitet, tædet, lett miseret, +miserescit succeede. + +That they came in, it was a fault of oversight in not overseeing my +office: if any should slinke by Cerberus [90] out of hell, it weare a +thing to bee wondred at, & yet wee see there doth, ther are so many +spirritts walking. If any should steale by Janus into heaven, it weare +much woorthy of marvaile, and yet wee see there doth, there are soe many +of Jupiters lemmans: if anye should skippe in or out by mee it is not to +bee admired: for why? Cerberus the porter of hell hath 3 heads, Janus +hath two, & I your poore colledg porter have but one. That they weare +not putt out of the colledge when they weare in, it was a fault; but a +fault of curtesie; for who could [100] find in his hart, when hee seeth +a man accompanied with musicke, musis comitantibus, to bidd him, Ibis +Homere foras, gett you home for an asse? + +But though my breast (I must confesse) weare then somewhat [F. 42v rev.] +moved with their melodye, yet heerafter my breast shall bee marble when +they warble: Nemo sibi Mimos accipere debet favori, I will never lett in +minstrells againe vpon favour; for your selves I can say no more but +profit; & when (after this Christmas cheere is ended) you fall againe to +your studdies, I could wish that [110] Hippocrene may bee Hippocrise, +the muses Muskadine, & the Pierides pies every day for your sakes; and +as for my tenn groates, if it will please you to remitte it, I will give +you decies decem mille gratiarum. Dixi. + + +II. + + _A speech delivered by Francis Clarke to the Ladie Keneda._ + [F. 46r rev.] + +Noble ladye, give him leave that hath beene so bolde as to take leave, +to speake before your ladyshipp, and out of the prognosticks, not of +profound pond or deepe dale, but out of the candlesticke of mine owne +observation, to give your ladyshipp some lightning of a great thunder +that will happen in the morning. + +The reason of it is a flatt, slimye, & sulphureous matter exhaled out of +the kitchins & enflamed in the highest region of the dripping pannes, +which will breed fiery commetts with much lightning and thunder. And +[10] the influence of it will so domineere in the cooks heads, that are +brought vpp under the torridd zone of the chimney, that few of them will +take rest this night, & suffer as few to take rest in the morning. They +have sett a little porch before so great an house, and have called their +show the flye. Some say because a maide comming to towne with butter was +mett by a cooke & by him deceaved in a wood neare adioyning, whose +laments the dryades and hamadriades of the place, pittieng, turned her +into a butterflie; & ever since the cooks are bound to this [20] +anniversary celebration of her metamorphosis; but soft, if the cooks +heare that the porridgpott of my mouth [F. 45v rev.] runnes over soe, +they will keele it with the ladle of reprehension; therfore I will make +hast away, onely asking this boone, which wilbee as good as a bone to +the cookes; that your ladyshipps servaunt Monsieur Piers may ride +to-morrowe with the fierye fraternitye of his fellowe cookes, & make +vpp the worthy companye of the round table, which they are resolvd not +to leave till the whole house goe rounde with them. [30] + + +III. + + _A Speech spoken by Francis Clarke in the behalfe of the freshmen._ + +Ne sævi, magne sacerdos, bee not so severe, great session [F. 44v rev.] +holder; lett pittie prevaile over the poenitent, lett thy woords of +woormwood goe downe againe into thy throate, & so by consequence into +thy belly, but lett not those goe to the place from whence they came, & +so by cohærence to the place of exequution: and though these bee, as it +is rightly said in the rule, Turba gravis paci placidæque inimica +quieti, yet thinke what goes next before, Sis bonus ô felixque tuis: and +although I must needes say I am sorry for it that Fertur atrocia +flagitia [10] designasse, yet remember what followes immediatlye in the +place; Teque ferunt iræ poenituisse tuæ. + +Your lordshipp is learned as well as I (it is bootles & I should offer +you the bootes), you knowing the Latine to expounde. + +I am heere the jaylor, the Janus, the janitor; you are the judge, the +justice, the Jupiter, to this miserable companye; yet beare I not two +faces under a hoode, neither deale I doubly betweene your lordshipp & +the lewde; for though Janus & the jaylor goe together, vt bifrons, [20] +custos, yet Bos stands for a barre to distinguish the jaylor from the +theefe, vt bifrons, custos, bos, fur. + +O that you weare Jupiter, to bee a helping father to these sonnes of +sorrow, or I weare Janus indeed, that I might have two tongues to +intreate for this pittifull crew. [F. 44r rev.] Looke, O thou flower of +favour, thou marigold of mercye and columbine of compassion, looke, O +looke on the dolorous dew dropps distilld from the limbecks or +loope-holes of their eyes, and plentifully powred on the flower of their +faces; O see in these (O thou most exalted [30] eldest sonne of Justice) +a lamentable example; consider that homo bulla, honor is but a blast; +pittie, O pitty the cause of these hopeles, helples, hartles and indeed +half-hanged young men; if they have erred, humanum est, they are men; +looke not thou for that of them which you can but expect of gods. Have +they spoken against the lawes of your court, why, Dolet dictum +imprudenti adolescenti et libero: has their tongue tript, why, Lingua +percurrit, it was too quicke for the witt, quicknes is commendable. +Pectora percussit, have they fought with [40] your highnes servaunts, +have they beene obstinate? Why, they have had their punishment, and +toties quoties, went either wett skind or dry beaten to bedd. Quid est +quod, in hac caus[=a] defensionis egeat; take pittie (O thou peerles +patterne of equity) if on nothing els, yet on their youth. + +Some of them are heires, all of good abilitye; I beseech your lordshipp +with the rest of the ioynd stooles, I would say the bench, take my +foolish iudgment, & lett them fine for it, merce them according to their +merritts [50] [F. 43v rev.] and their purses, wee shall all fare the +better for it. + +As for other punishments (I speake it with weeping teares) they have +suffered no small affliction in my keeping; Est locus in carcere quod +dungeanum appellatur; there they lay, noctes atque dies, at no great +charge, for, Constat parvo fames; but so laded with irons that I made +them Livida armis brachia, & now, see, they are come foorth after all, +Trepidus morte futura. + +O miseresce malis, take pitty on the poore prisners, Patres æquum esse +censent nos iam iam; you may very [60] well remember, since yourselfe +weare in the same case. Cutt not off for some few slippes those younge +plantes of such towardnes; make not mothers weepe, winke at small +faultes, rovoke your sentence, lett the common good have their fines, +mee have my fees, they have their lives, and all shalbee well pleased. +Dixi. + + +IV. + + _A letter composd for Francke Clarke, the porter of [F. 84v rev.] + S. John's, who in his brother's behalfe did breake one's head with + a blacke staffe._ + +TO MASTER LAUDE, THEN PROCTOR. + +Worshipfull and woorthy Master Proctor, wheras I, your poore vassaile, +in charitye towardes my afflicted brother, have stepped over the shooes +of my duetye in participatinge or accommodatinge my blacke staffe to the +easinge of his over-charged artickles & members, wherby I have iustlye +plucked the oulde house, or rather the maine beame of your indignation, +upon my impotent and impudent shoulders, I doe now beseech you upon the +knees of my sorrowfullnes and marybones of repentance to forgive mee all +delictes & crimes as have beene [10] formerly committed. + +And wheras you, contrary to my desertes, have out of the bottomles pitt +of your liberalitye restored mee out of the porters lodge of miserye +into the tower of fælicitie, by giving that which was due from mee +(silly mee) vnto your worshippfull selfe, I meane my ladye pecunia; lett +mee intreate you that I may burden the leggs of your liberalitie so +much farther, as to deliver mee the afore-said blacke staffe, without +which I am a man & noe beast, a wretch & no porter. But wheras it is +thus [20] by my most vnfortunate fate, that so woorthy a President [F. +85r rev.] hath seene so vnworthy a present, I cannott but condole my +tragedies, committing you to the profunditye or abisse of your +liberalitie, & my selfe to the 3 craues of my adversitie. Dixi. + + + + +NOTES TO THE PLAY OF "NARCISSUS." + + + + +NOTES TO THE PLAY OF "NARCISSUS." + + +Line 1. _Master and Mistris._--Doubtless the President of S. John's and +his wife. The office was held at this time by Ralph Hutchinson, who had +been elected to it in 1590, after holding for some years the college +living of Charlbury, Oxon. Little seems to be known of Mrs. Hutchinson +beyond the fact that after her husband's death in 1606 she placed his +effigy in the college chapel. + +Line 39. _Rebateth._--To rebate, to blunt or disedge; see _Measure for +Measure_, i. 4, 60--"Doth rebate and blunt his natural edge." + +Line 55. _Quaffe._--The substantival use of this word is not uncommon in +contemporary writings. Cf., in 1579, L. Tomson, Calvin's _Sermons on +Timothy, &c.,_ p. 512, col. 2: "Now they thinke that a sermon costeth no +more then a quaffe wil them." + +Line 78. _Ladds of mettall._--Cf. 1 _Henry IV._ ii. 4, 13. + +Line 80._ No vertue extant._--Cf. 1 _Henry IV._ ii. 4, 132, where virtue += bravery, physical courage. The porter's use of the phrase sounds like +a quotation. + +Line 97. _A the stampe._--Halliwell gives "Stamp, a tune," and quotes +from MS. Fairfax, 16, "Songes, stampes, and eke daunces." Cf. also +_Midsummer Night's Dream_, iii. 2, 25. + +Line 98. _Windsuckers._--This old name for the kestrel, or wind-hover, +is of tolerably frequent occurrence. It is used metaphorically of a +person ready to pounce on anything. "There is a certain envious +windsucker that hovers up and down" (Chapman). + +Line 101. _I pre, sequor._--Literally, "Go before, I follow." The porter +supplies a free translation in the words "one of your consorte." Cf. +the use of the phrase "to be hail-fellow-well-met with anyone." + +Line 109. _Condolent_ here means _expressing sorrow_. For this sense see +Wood, Ath. Oxon. (R)--"His vein for ditty and amorous ode was deemed +most lofty, condolent, and passionate." + +Line 110. _Suffocat._--The porter's substitute for _sufficit_; though, +strictly speaking, the _o_ should be long. + +Line 111. _I tickle them for a good voice._--Besides the ordinary +metaphorical meaning of to flatter, _tickle_ sometimes = to serve one +right, to make one pay for a thing. For this sense see 1 _Henry IV._ ii. +4, 489, "I'll tickle ye for a young prince, i' faith;" and cf. _Ibid._ +ii. 1, 66. Probably the expression has a similar force here. + +Line 114. _Butterd beare._--Ale boiled with lump-sugar, butter, and +spice. + +Line 122. _Act in conye._--The adjective _incony_, with the apparent +sense of fine, delicate, is used twice by Costard in _Love's Labour's +Lost_ (iii. 136, iv. 1, 144) and also in Marlowe's _Jew of Malta_, iv. +5--"While I in thy incony lap do tumble." Other examples are rare, and I +have not found any instance of an adverbial use. A second, though much +less probable interpretation of the passage is suggested by the frequent +use of _cony_ as a term of endearment to a woman (cf. Skelton's _Eleanor +Rummyng_, 225--"He called me his whytyng, his nobbes, and his conny"). +If, however, "act in conye" were equivalent to "act as woman," _i.e._ +take a female part, examples of analogous constructions should be +forthcoming. + +Line 129. _Lovely._--Here used in the sense of loving, tender. Cf. +_Taming of the Shrew_, iii. 2, 125--"And seal the title with a lovely +kiss." + +Line 156. _All and some._--An expression meaning everyone, everything, +altogether: + + "For which the people blisful, _al and somme_, + So cryden" ... + + (CHAUCER, _Anelida and Arcite_, i. 26.) + + "Thou who wilt not love, do this; + Learne of me what Woman is. + Something made of thred and thrumme; + A meere botch of all and some." + + (HERRICK, _Hesperides_, i. 100.) + +Line 160. _Cappes a thrumming._--Cf. _Knight of the Burning Pestle_, iv. +5-- + + "And let it ne'er be said for shame that we, the youths of London, + Lay thrumming of our caps at home, and left our custom undone." + +To _thrum_ = to beat in the Suffolk dialect. + +Line 167. _Shrimpe._--This use of the word in the sense of child, +offspring (or possibly as a term of endearment, "little one") is not +common. It was generally employed contemptuously, and meant a dwarfish +or stunted creature, as in 1 _Henry VI._ ii. 3, 23. See, however, +_Love's Labour's Lost_, v. 2, 594. + +Line 193. _Oddes_ here = contention, quarrel. For this sense compare-- + + "I cannot speak + Any beginning to this peevish odds." + + (_Othello_, ii. 3, 185.) + +and also _Henry V._ ii. 4, 129, and _Timon of Athens_, iv. 3, 42. + +Line 195. _Seven yeares I was a woman._--The blindness of Tiresias is +most frequently ascribed, either to his having, when a child, revealed +the secrets of the gods, or to his having gazed upon Athenè bathing, on +which occasion the goddess is said to have deprived him of sight. +Another tradition, however (adhered to by Ovid, _Met._ iii. 516, etc.), +relates that Tiresias beheld two serpents together; he struck at them, +and, happening to kill the female, was himself changed into a woman. +Seven years later he again encountered two serpents, but now killed the +male, and resumed the shape of man. Zeus and Hera, disputing over the +relative happiness of man and woman, referred the matter to Tiresias, as +having a practical knowledge of both conditions. He favoured Zeus's +assertion that a woman possessed the more enjoyments; whereupon Hera, +indignant, blinded him, while Zeus bestowed on him, in compensation, the +power of prophecy. + +Line 197. _Fold._--The omission of a prefix to suit the exigencies of +metre, common enough in verbs such as defend, defile, becomes remarkable +when the force of the prefix itself is such as to change entirely the +meaning of the verb. Examples of omission in such cases are comparatively +rare, but they are not confined to our own language. See Vergil, _Aen._ +i. 262-- + + "Longius et volvens fatorum arcana movebo"-- + +and cf. also _Aen._ v. 26, and Cicero's _Brutus_, 87. + +Line 223. _Catch audacitye._--For the old metaphorical use of catch cf. +Wyclif's Bible (1 Tim. vi. 12), "Catche euerlastyng lyf." + +Line 227. _Curromanstike_, chiromantic, _i.e._ pertaining to chiromancy; +the rhyme being probably responsible for the use of the adjective rather +than the noun. + +Line 229. _The table_, etc.--"The table-line, or line of fortune, begins +under the mount of Mercury, and ends near the index and middle +finger.... When lines come from the mount of Venus, and cut the line of +life, it denotes the party unfortunate in love and business, and +threatens him with some suddain death" (_The True Fortune-teller, or +Guide to Knowledge_, 1686). + +Line 236. _Sheppbiter._--A malicious, surly fellow; according to Dyce, +"a cant term for a thief." See _Twelfth Night_, ii. 5, 6, "The +niggardly, rascally sheep-biter." + +Line 246. _What._--MS. has the abbreviation w^{th}, usually denoting +_with_, but evidently substituted here, by a copyist's error, for w^{t} += _what_. + +Line 247. _They can but bring_, etc.--W. Carew Hazlitt (_English +Proverbs_, p. 28) quotes from Heywood, 1562--"A man maie well bring a +horse to the water, but he can not make him drinke without he will." He +also mentions that the proverb is ascribed (probably falsely) to Queen +Elizabeth, in the _Philosopher's Banquet_ (1614). + +Line 261. _I_ = ay.--Both spellings occur in the MS. For the common use +of the capital _I_ in this sense, see Juliet's play upon the word-- + + "Hath Romeo slain himself? Say thou but 'I,' + And that bare vowel 'I' shall poison more + Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice; + I am not I, if there be such an I." + + (_Romeo and Juliet_, iii. 2, 45, etc.) + +Line 262. _In spight of ... pye._--Alluding to the common belief in the +pie, or magpie, as a bird of ill-omen. + +Line 266. _Phibbus._--The same spelling as in _Midsummer Night's Dream_, +i. 2, 37. + +Line 270. _Baskett dagger._--Doubtless a weapon resembling the +basket-_sword_, which had a hilt specially designed to protect the hand +from injury. Cf. 2 _Henry IV._ ii. 4, 141. + +Line 275. _Footinge_, step, tread; cf. _Merchant of Venice_, v. 24. + +Line 279.--_Late-mouse._--A facetious spelling of Latmus, the "mount of +oblivion." + +Line 281. _Shift_ originally meant simply change, substitution of one +thing for another. Cf. _Timon of Athens_, i. 1, 84--"Fortune, in her +shift and change of mood." Wotton writes--"My going to Oxford was not +merely for shift of air." From this arose the later sense of a change of +clothing, in which the word is here used; and which has now become +further limited, _shift_ amongst the lower classes being equivalent to +an under-garment. + +Line 282. _Cantle._--A corner, angle, small point. Cf. 1 _Henry IV._ +iii. 1, 100; _Antony and Cleopatra_, iii. 10, 6. See also under _cantle_ +in N. E. D. + +Line 283. _Portmantle._--The older and commoner form of _portmanteau_, +occurring, for example, in Howell's _Familiar Letters_ (1623). Early +instances of _portmanteau_ are, however, to be found. + +Line 296. _Ile bee a diar,_ etc.--The joke is on the double meaning of +_diar_; there seems to be no special significance in the choice of the +colour orange-tawny. + +Line 300. _Codshead_ = stupid-head, foolish fellow. Cf. in 1607, +Drewill's _Arraignm_. in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) iii. 56:--"Lloyd +(threatning he) woulde trye acquaintance with the other codsheade." +Also, in 1594, Carew Huarte's _Exam. Wits_, i. (1596), 2:--"His +(Cicero's) sonne ... prooued but a cods-head." + +Line 301. _O eyes, noe eyes._--The common tag from Hieronymo, in Kyd's +_Spanish Tragedy_, Act iii.: + + "O eyes! No eyes, but fountains fraught with tears; + O life! No life, but lively form of death." + +The line was a frequent subject of ridicule amongst contemporary +writers; cf. _Every Man in his Humour_, i. 5, 58, etc. + +Line 316. _Fennell._--Foeniculum vulgare, considered as an inflammatory +herb, and used as an emblem of flattery. Cf. _Hamlet_, iv. 5, 180. + +Line 320. _Thou._--MS. has _though_. + +Line 327. _Weasand._--This word is generally used as a noun, and itself +means wind-pipe. Cf. _Tempest_, iii. 2, 99. + +Line 328. _Thy face more faire, etc._--According to some legends, Gorgon +or Medusa was a beautiful maiden before Athenè, in anger, changed her +hair into serpents, thereby rendering her so hideous that all who saw +her became petrified. Possibly, however, the allusion here is merely +facetious. + +Line 329. _Dishevells._--Spreads in disorder (an intransitive use). +"Their hair, curling, dishevels about their shoulders." (Sir T. +Herbert.) + +Line 330. _Queene of devills._--Probably Persephone, the wife of Pluto, +who ruled amongst the shades of the departed. + +Line 332. _Mavors_ or _Mavers_ is the form from which _Mars_ is +contracted. + +Line 337. _Silenus for streight backe._--Silenus is usually depicted as +a fat, jovial old man, intoxicated and requiring support. The comparison +is of course ironical. + +Line 339. _Rine_ = rind or bark. The O. E. form was rinde; but for a +similar omission of _d_ in the literary language cf. _lime_ (O. E. +linde) and _lawn_ (M. E. launde). + +Line 342. _Whose nose, etc._--Cf. _Midsummer Night's Dream_, v. 338. A +similar jest occurs in Peele's "Old Wives' Tale": "Her corall lippes, +her crimson chinne." + +Line 345. _Thy._--MS. has _they_. + +Line 360. _Cruell_, _huge_, are the epithets properly belonging to +_elephant_; _changing_, _small_, to _chameleon_. See Introduction. + +Line 396. _Ile beare thee light._--If this expression be an idiom, I can +find no other instance of it; cf., however, the analogous phrase "to +bear hard," _i.e._ to take ill (_Julius Cæsar_, ii. 1, 215; 1 _Henry +IV._ i. 3, 270). The punning character of the passage makes it difficult +to determine what exact meaning Florida wishes to convey. A not +improbable sense would be obtained by supplying a comma after _thee_, +and thus turning _light_ into a nominative of address. + +Line 397. _Lurden_, a clown, sluggard, ill-bred person (Halliwell). + + "And seyde, lurden, what doyst thou here? + Thou art a thefe, or thefys fere." + + (MS. _Cantab_, Ff. ii. 38, f. 240.) + +The word occurs in _Piers Plowman_. + +Line 399. _O Oedipus I am not, I am Davus._--A quotation from Terence, +_Andria_, i. 2, 23: "Davus sum, non Oedipus." + +Line 400. _Master Davis._--Evidently an intentional anglicizing of the +classical name. + +Line 406. _Vastitye._--So MS., possibly for _vastilye_. + +Line 408. _As true as Helen, etc._--Cf. the professions of Pyramus and +Thisbe (where, however, no irony is intended), _Midsummer Night's +Dream_, v. 1, 200-203. + +Line 413. _Loves._--So MS. for _love_. + +Line 413. _I am ore shooes in it._--Cf. _Two Gentlemen of Verona_, i. 1, +23: + + "That's a deep story of a deeper love, + For he was more than over shoes in love." + +Line 414. _Mountenance_, quantity, amount. The translation of the +_Romaunt of the Rose_, attributed to Chaucer, has--"The mountenance of +two fynger hight." + +Line 422. _Never ioyd it since._--Cf. 1 _Henry IV._ ii. 1, 13: "Poor +fellow, never joyed since the price of oats rose; it was the death of +him." + +Line 426. _Pay_ = beat (still used dialectically): + + "They with a foxe tale him soundly did pay." + + (_The King and a poore Northerne Man_, 1640.) + +Line 440. _Scummer._--The meanings of this word appear to be either +various or obscure. Halliwell gives "_Scummer_, wonder; Somerset." In +Elworthy's _West Somersetshire Wordbook_ the definitions stand thus: (1) +row, disturbance; (2) confusion, upset; (3) mess, dirty muddle. Wright, +in his _Provincial Dictionary_, gives the meaning as ordure, without +referring the word to any special locality. Obviously, this _scummer_ is +not to be confounded with M. E. _scumer_, a rover or pirate. + +Line 441. _Surquedry_, presumption, arrogance, conceit. Chaucer +has--"Presumpcion is he whan a man taketh an emprise that him ought not +to do, or ellis he may it not do & that is called surquidrie" (_Parson's +Tale_, Corpus MS.). + +Line 441. _Shooing-horne._--Metaphorically, anything which helps to draw +something else on: a tool. Cf. _Troilus and Cressida_, v. 1, 61: "A +thrifty shoeing-horn in a chain, hanging at his brother's leg." The +expression "shoeing horn of surquedry" is thus equivalent to "chosen +implement of personified arrogance." + +Line 442. _Casting topp_, a peg-top. See W. Coles (1657), _Adam in +Eden_, 169--"The fruit is in forme like a casting-top." + +Line 443. _Stopple._--The older form of stopper. Cotgrave has--"Tampon, +a bung or stopple." + +Line 446. _Vpp leave._--So MS. for _vpp heave_, possibly by confusion +with _vpp lift_. + +Line 453. _Corneagle._--I can find no instances whatever of this very +puzzling word; neither does it seem to be closely analogous to any known +form. Can _corneagle_ be a corrupt spelling of _co-niggle_, to niggle +both (our hearts) together? _Niggle_ was used formerly for deceive, +steal (still in the dialects), make sport of, mock; but is not, to my +knowledge, compounded elsewhere with this prefix. Or is "harts +corneagle" a substitution for "harts' core niggle"? (Heart's core occurs +in _Hamlet_.) Both explanations have been suggested to me only as a last +resource, and are too far-fetched to be at all convincing. Moreover, the +context seems to require the sense of pursue, persecute, rather than of +deceive. + +Line 464. _Tales of tubbes._--A characteristic rendering into +Elizabethan English of Ovid's "Illa Deam longo prudens sermone tenebat." +The earliest instances of the expression "tales of tubs" seem to occur +about the middle of the sixteenth century. + +_Notes and Queries_, series v. vol. xi. p. 505, quotes amongst "curious +phrases in 1580"--"To heare some Gospel of a distaffe and tale of a +tubbe" (_Beehive of the Romish Church_, fo. 275b). See also Holland's +"Plutarch," p. 644, and (for further references) Dodsley-Hazlitt's _Old +Plays_, ii. 335. + +Line 475. _Quatte._--A corruption of _squat_, sometimes used +substantively for the sitting of a hare: + + "Procure a little sport + And then be put to the dead quat." + + (_White Devil_, 4to, H.) + +That the word in this sense was not general may be gathered from the +fact that George Turberville, in his full description of the various +methods of hunting the hare (_Noble Art of Venerie_, 1575), makes no use +of it, but speaks constantly of the hare's form. _Quat_ for _squat_ +(non-substantival) is still frequent in some of the dialects, and is the +word specially used of a hare or other game when flattening itself on +the earth to escape observation. In West Somersetshire it is used in +connection with the verb to go--"The hare went quat" (Elworthy). This +is the modern use most nearly approximating to that of the present +passage. + +Line 476. _Watt_, the old name for a hare; hence metaphorically used of +a wily, cautious person (Halliwell). + +Line 478. _Hollowe in the hind doggs._--Turberville, describing the +hunting of hares, writes,--"One of the huntesmen shall take charge to +rate & beate on _such doggs as bide plodding behinde_; and the other +shall make them seeke and cast about." + +Line 518. _Slidd_, God's lid, a mean oath. See _Merry Wives of Windsor_, +iii. 4, 24; _Twelfth Night_, iii. 4, 427; _Every Man in his Humour_, i. +1, 56. + +Line 537. _Patch._--A term of contempt, generally supposed to have been +first applied to professional fools, by reason of their parti-coloured +dress. See _Tempest_, iii. 2, 71; _Comedy of Errors_, iii. 1, 32, 36. + +Line 556. _Malaparte_, forward, saucy. See _Twelfth Night_, iv. 1, 47, +and 3 _Henry VI._ v. 5, 32. + +Line 569. _Scall scabbe._--A scall = a scab; scald = scabby. See _Merry +Wives of Windsor_, iii. 1, 123; _Twelfth Night_, ii. 5, 82; _Troilus and +Cressida_, ii. 1, 31. + +Line 571. _Groome._--In M. E. this word meant simply boy, youth; hence +(at a later period) serving-lad. See _Taming of the Shrew_, iii. 2, 215, +and _Titus Andronicus_, iv. 2, 164. + +Line 573. _Bange_, beat. Cf. _Othello_, ii. 1, 21, and _Julius Cæsar_, +iii. 3, 20. + +Line 575. _Kee pickpurse._--This expression seems to be a quotation from +1 _Henry IV._ ii. 1, 53: + + "_Gads._ What, ho! Chamberlain! + + _Cham. (within)._ At hand, quoth pick-purse." + +I am told that the colloquial use of _kee_, or _quy_, for _quoth_, is +frequent in certain parts of Scotland; but I can find no literary +example of the form, and it is hard to account for its presence in this +passage. The scribal substitution of _quy_ for the abbreviated _quoth_ +might easily occur, the thorn-letter being erroneously transcribed by +_y_, as in _the_; but this cannot have given rise to any M. E. phonetic +change such as the spelling _kee_ certainly implies. + +Line 587. _Spurrgald._--Cf. _Richard II._ v. 5, 94. + +Line 588. _Jolthead_, blockhead, dunce. See _Two Gentlemen of Verona_, +iii. 1, 290,--"Fie on thee, jolt-head! Thou canst not read." Also +_Taming of the Shrew_, iv. 1, 169. + +Line 590. _Rooke_ = cheat or sharper, and is used as a general term of +contempt. See _Every Man in his Humour_, i. 5, 89,--"Hang him, rook!" +The host of the Garter frequently addresses his familiars as +"bully-rook." See _Merry Wives of Windsor_, i. 3, 2; ii. 1, 200, 207, +213. + +Line 611. _Forfeiture._--Properly, something lost on engagement, or in +consequence of the breach of an obligation. Cf. _Merchant of Venice_, i. +3, 165; iv. 1, 24, 122. Here the word is used in a modified and more +general sense. + +Line 641. _Ast._--Cf., in 1592, G. Harvey's _Pierces Superer_, 57,--"He +... bourdeth, girdeth, asseth, the excellentest writers." + +Line 644. _Scindifer._--So MS., possibly for _scimitar_. + +Line 649. _Whineard_, a sword or hanger (Halliwell):-- + + "His cloake grew large and sid + And a faire whinniard by his side." + + (_Cobler of Canterburie_, 1608, sig. E, ii.) + +Line 658. _Stingian._--So MS. for _Stygian_. + +Line 668. _Lovd._--So MS., possibly for _livd_. + +Line 670. _Vild._--So MS. for _vile_ or _wild_. + +Lines 677, 678. _Christall_ and _cherrye_ reversed. + +Line 683. _Headye_, rash, impetuous. See 1 _Henry IV._ ii. 3, 58, and +_Henry V._ i. 1, 34. + +Line 686. _Dicker._--Ten of any commodity, as ten hides of leather, ten +bars of iron, etc. This word comes from the late Latin _dicra_ (_dicora, +decora, dacra, dacrum_), classical Latin _decuria_, meaning ten hides, +occasionally ten of other things. "Also that no maner foreyn sille no +lether in the seid cite, but it be in the yelde halle of the same, +paying for the custom of every _dyker_ i.d." (_English Guilds_, ed. by +Toulmin Smith, p. 384). For the wide use of the word in Western and +Northern Europe, cf. O. Norse _dekr_, ten hides, M. H. G. _decker_, ten +of anything, especially hides. Modern German _decker_ = ten hides. + +Line 688. _How_ here = however, as in _Venus and Adonis_, 79; 1 _Henry +IV._ v. 2, 12; and _Much Ado about Nothing_, iii. 1, 60. + +Line 703. _Seas._--MS. has _sea_. + +Line 711. _Pinke._--A word found in the northern dialects for "to peep +slyly." Cf. the adjective _pink_, winking, half-shut; "Plumpy Bacchus +with pink eyne" (_Antony and Cleopatra_, ii. 7, 121). + +Line 734. _My grandam ... earth._--Cf. 1 _Henry IV._ iii. 1, 34. + +Line 735. _Randome._--The verb random, to stray wildly, is more +frequently found with the original spelling _randon_ (French _randoner_, +to run rapidly), which became altered, possibly by analogy with _whilom_ +and _seldom_, possibly by a process of change similar to that which +converted _ranson_ to _ransom_. Sackville writes:--"Shall leave them +free to randon of their will." + + + + +NOTES TO THE APPENDIX. + + +I. + +Line 32. (_i_) is here equivalent to _id est_. Lilly gives the examples +of lines 52, 53 (in which the same abbreviation here occurs) with the +words written in full. + +Line 48. _Repente._--A play on the meaning of the English and the form +of the Latin word _repente_ is clearly intended. + +Line 70. "Denarii dicti, quod denos æris valebant; quinarii, quod +quinos" (Varro). + +Line 93. _Janus_ is frequently, though not invariably, represented in +mythology as guardian of the entrance to heaven; in which capacity he +holds in his right hand a staff, and in his left a key, symbolical of +his office (Ovid, _Fast._ i. 125). The names of Jupiter and Janus were +usually coupled in prayer, as the divinities whose aid it was necessary +to invoke at the beginning of any undertaking. Jupiter gave by augury +the requisite sanction; but it was the part of Janus to confer a +blessing at the outset. + +Line 111. _Hippocrise._--A beverage composed of wine, with spices and +sugar, strained through a cloth; said to have been named from +Hippocrates' sleeve, the term given by apothecaries to a strainer +(Halliwell). + +Line 111. _Muskadine._--A well-known rich wine. + + "And I will have also wyne de Ryne + With new maid clarye, that is good and fyne, + Muscadell, terantyne, and bastard, + With Ypocras and Pyment comyng afterwarde." + + (_MS. Rawl._ C. 86.) + +Though _muscadell_ is the usual form (for instances see Furnivall, _The +Babees Book_, p. 205), the spelling _muscadine_ occurs in Beaumont and +Fletcher's _Loyal Subject_, iii. 4. + +Line 112. _The Pierides pies._--The reference is not to the Muses +themselves (sometimes called Pierides from Pieria, near Olympus), but to +the nine daughters of Pierus, who for attempting to rival the Muses were +changed into birds of the magpie kind. For a full account of the +transformation see Ovid, _Met._ v. 670, etc. There is a play here on the +double meaning of _pie_, namely a bird (Latin pica), and an article of +food. + + +II. + +Line 23.--_Keele_, to cool, from O. E. cêlan, M. E. kelen. See _Love's +Labour's Lost_, v. 2, 930--"While greasy Joan doth keel the pot." +Usually, however, the verb bore the derived sense of "to keep from +boiling over by stirring round." _A Tour to the Caves_, 1781, +gives--"_Keel_, to keep the pot from boiling over." This is evidently +the meaning which should be adopted here. + + +III. + +Line 13. _It is bootles_, etc.--Puns on the different meanings of the +word _boot_ are very common in Elizabethan writers, and the relevant use +of the one frequently entails the irrelevant introduction of the other. +See, for example, _Two Gentlemen of Verona_, i. 1, 27, etc.: + + "_Pro._ Over the boots? Nay, give me not the boots. + + _Val._ No, I will not, for it boots thee not." + +And _Every Man in his Humour_, i. 3, 30, etc.: + + "_Brai._ Why, you may ha' my master's gelding, to save your longing, + sir. + + _Step._ But I ha' no boots, that's the spite on't. + + _Brai._ Why, a fine wisp of hay roll'd hard, Master Stephen. + + _Step._ No, faith, it's no boot to follow him now." + +"Give me not the boots" = "do not make a laughing-stock of me." + +Line 48. _Ioynd stooles._--The word joint-stool, meaning a seat made +with joints, a folding-chair, is sometimes spelt _join'd stool_ in old +editions of Shakespeare. The porter's use of this form is probably +intended to convey a jest; _ioynd stooles_ is here equivalent to stooles +joined to one another, and the term is used as a facetious synonym for +_bench_. + + +IV. + +Line 6. _Oulde._--So MS., possibly for _whole_. + +Line 19. _A man & noe beast._--An inversion, probably intentional. + +Line 22. _Condole my tragedies._--_Condole_ is here used in the now +obsolete transitive sense, and is equivalent to bewail, grieve over, +lament. See (in 1607) Hieron, _Works_, i. 179--"How tender-hearted the +Lord is, and how he doth ... condole our miseries." Cf. also Pistol's +use of the verb, _Henry V._ ii. 1, 133. + +Line 24. _Craues._--The substantive crave, = craving, is not in general +use, but appears to be considered rather as a new formation than as an +obsolete word. Thus the earliest of the three examples given in the N. +E. D. dates from 1830--"His crave and his vanity so far deluded him" +(_Fraser's Magazine_, i. 134). This is a clear instance of a previous +use. + +The sentence as it stands presents some difficulty, inasmuch as the +porter has made in the course of his speech only two distinct petitions, +namely that he may be forgiven "all delictes and crimes" (l. 10), and +that his black staff may be restored to him (l. 18). Perhaps the +delicate hint concerning "my ladye pecunia," coupled with the appeal to +"the profunditye or abisse" of the President's liberality, is to be +considered as constituting a third. + + + + +[Illustration: CHISWICK PRESS:--C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT, +CHANCERY LANE.] + + + + +Corrections. + +The first line indicates the original, the second the correction: + +p. 18: + + [F. 72r. rev.] + [F. 72r rev.] + +p. 30: + + [F. 43r. rev.] + [F. 43r rev.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Narcissus, by Unknown + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41726 *** |