Part 7
[Footnote 137: fair: See note |||, p. 15. ('15' sic.)
(note |||, p. 13, The First Part of Tamburlaine the Great:)
"In fair, &c.: Here "FAIR" is to be considered as a dissyllable: compare, in the Fourth act of our author's JEW OF MALTA, "I'll feast you, lodge you, give you FAIR words, And, after that," &c."]
[Footnote 138: shall be done: Here a change of scene is supposed, to the interior of Barabas's house.]
[Footnote 139: Friar, awake: Here, most probably, Barabas drew a curtain, and discovered the sleeping Friar.]
[Footnote 140: have: Old ed. "saue."]
[Footnote 141: What time o' night is't now, sweet Ithamore?
ITHAMORE. Towards one: Might be adduced, among other passages, to shew that the modern editors are right when they print in Shakespeare's KING JOHN. act iii. sc. 3,
"If the midnight bell Did, with his iron tongue and brazen mouth, Sound ONE into the drowsy ear of NIGHT," &c.]
[Footnote 142: Enter FRIAR JACOMO: The scene is now before Barabas's house,--the audience having had to SUPPOSE that the body of Barnardine, which Ithamore had set upright, was standing outside the door.]
[Footnote 143: proceed: Seems to be used here as equivalent to--succeed.]
[Footnote 144: on's: i.e. of his.]
[Footnote 145: Enter BELLAMIRA, &c.: The scene, as in p. 160, a veranda or open portico of Bellamira's house.
(p. 160, this play:)
" Enter BELLAMIRA. (91) BELLAMIRA. Since this town was besieg'd," etc.]
[Footnote 146: tall: Which our early dramatists generally use in the sense of--bold, brave (see note , p. 161), [i.e. note 94: is here perhaps equivalent to--handsome. ("Tall or SEMELY." PROMPT. PARV. ed. 1499.)]
[Footnote 147: neck-verse: i.e. the verse (generally the beginning of the 51st Psalm, MISERERE MEI, &c.) read by a criminal to entitle him to benefit of clergy.]
[Footnote 148: of: i.e. on.]
[Footnote 149: exercise: i.e. sermon, preaching.]
[Footnote 150: with a muschatoes: i.e. with a pair of mustachios. The modern editors print "with MUSTACHIOS," and "with a MUSTACHIOS": but compare,--
"My Tuskes more stiffe than are a Cats MUSCHATOES." S. Rowley's NOBLE SPANISH SOLDIER, 1634, Sig. C.
"His crow-black MUCHATOES." THE BLACK BOOK,--Middleton's WORKS, v. 516, ed. Dyce.]
[Footnote 151: Turk of tenpence: An expression not unfrequently used by our early writers. So Taylor in some verses on Coriat;
"That if he had A TURKE OF TENPENCE bin," &c. WORKES, p. 82, ed. 1630.
And see note on Middleton's WORKS, iii. 489, ed. Dyce.]
[Footnote 152: you know: Qy. "you know, SIR,"?]
[Footnote 153: I'll make him, &c.: Old ed. thus:
"I'le make him send me half he has, & glad he scapes so too. PEN AND INKE: I'll write vnto him, we'le haue mony strait."
There can be no doubt that the words "Pen and inke" were a direction to the property-man to have those articles on the stage.]
[Footnote 154: cunning: i.e. skilfully prepared.--Old ed. "running." (The MAIDS are supposed to hear their mistress' orders WITHIN.)]
[Footnote 155: Shalt live with me, and be my love: A line, slightly varied, of Marlowe's well-known song. In the preceding line, the absurdity of "by Dis ABOVE" is, of course, intentional.]
[Footnote 156: beard: Old ed. "sterd."]
[Footnote 157: give me a ream of paper: we'll have a kingdom of gold for't: A quibble. REALM was frequently written ream; and frequently (as the following passages shew), even when the former spelling was given, the L was not sounded;
"Vpon the siluer bosome of the STREAME First gan faire Themis shake her amber locks, Whom all the Nimphs that waight on Neptunes REALME Attended from the hollowe of the rocks." Lodge's SCILLAES METAMORPHOSIS, &c. 1589, Sig. A 2.
"How he may surest stablish his new conquerd REALME, How of his glorie fardest to deriue the STREAME." A HERINGS TAYLE, &c. 1598, Sig. D 3.
"Learchus slew his brother for the crowne; So did Cambyses fearing much the DREAME; Antiochus, of infamous renowne, His brother slew, to rule alone the REALME." MIROUR FOR MAGISTRATES, p. 78, ed. 1610.]
[Footnote 158: runs division: "A musical term [of very common occurrence]." STEEVENS (apud Dodsley's O. P.).]
[Footnote 159: Enter BARABAS: The scene certainly seems to be now the interior of Barabas's house, notwithstanding what he presently says to Pilia-Borza (p. 171, sec. col.), "Pray, when, sir, shall I see you at my house?"]
[Footnote 160: tatter'd: Old ed. "totter'd": but in a passage of our author's EDWARD THE SECOND the two earliest 4tos have "TATTER'D robes":--and yet Reed in a note on that passage (apud Dodsley's OLD PLAYS, where the reading of the third 4to, "tottered robes", is followed) boldly declares that "in every writer of this period the word was spelt TOTTERED"! The truth is, it was spelt sometimes one way, sometimes the other.]
[Footnote 161: catzery: i.e. cheating, roguery. It is formed from CATSO (CAZZO, see note *, p. 166 i.e. note 127), which our early writers used, not only as an exclamation, but as an opprobrious term.]
[Footnote 162: cross-biting: i.e. swindling (a cant term).--Something has dropt out here.]
[Footnote 163: tale: i.e. reckoning.]
[Footnote 164: what he writes for you: i.e. the hundred crowns to be given to the bearer: see p. 170, sec. col.
p. 170, second column, this play:
"ITHAMORE. [writing: SIRRAH JEW, AS YOU LOVE YOUR LIFE, SEND ME FIVE HUNDRED CROWNS, AND GIVE THE BEARER A HUNDRED. --Tell him I must have't."]
[Footnote 165: I should part: Qy. "I E'ER should part"?]
[Footnote 166: rid: i.e. despatch, destroy.]
[Footnote 167: Enter BELLAMIRA, &c.: They are supposed to be sitting in a veranda or open portico of Bellamira's house: see note *, p. 168. [i.e. note 145.]
[Footnote 168: Of: i.e. on.]
[Footnote 169: BELLAMIRA.: Old ed. "Pil."]
[Footnote 170: Rivo Castiliano: The origin of this Bacchanalian exclamation has not been discovered. RIVO generally is used alone; but, among passages parallel to that of our text, is the following one (which has been often cited),--
"And RYUO will he cry and CASTILE too." LOOKE ABOUT YOU, 1600, Sig. L. 4.
A writer in THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW, vol. xliii. 53, thinks that it "is a misprint for RICO-CASTELLANO, meaning a Spaniard belonging to the class of RICOS HOMBRES, and the phrase therefore is--
'Hey, NOBLE CASTILIAN, a man's a man!' 'I can pledge like a man and drink like a man, MY WORTHY TROJAN;' as some of our farce-writers would say." But the frequent occurrence of RIVO in various authors proves that it is NOT a misprint.]
[Footnote 171: he: Old ed. "you".]
[Footnote 172: and he and I, snicle hand too fast, strangled a friar] There is surely some corruption here. Steevens (apud Dodsley's O. P.) proposes to read "hand TO FIST". Gilchrist (ibid.) observes, "a snicle is a north-country word for a noose, and when a person is hanged, they say he is snicled." See too, in V. SNICKLE, Forby's VOC. OF EAST ANGLIA, and the CRAVEN DIALECT.--The Rev. J. Mitford proposes the following (very violent) alteration of this passage;
"Itha. I carried the broth that poisoned the nuns; and he and I-- Pilia. Two hands snickle-fast-- Itha. Strangled a friar."]
[Footnote 173: incony: i.e. fine, pretty, delicate.--Old ed. "incoomy."]
[Footnote 174: they stink like a hollyhock: "This flower, however, has no offensive smell. STEEVENS (apud Dodsley's O. P.). Its odour resembles that of the poppy.]
[Footnote 175: mushrooms: For this word (as, indeed, for most words) our early writers had no fixed spelling. Here the old ed. has "Mushrumbs": and in our author's EDWARD THE SECOND, the 4tos have "mushrump."]
[Footnote 176: under the elder when he hanged himself: That Judas hanged himself on an elder-tree, was a popular legend. Nay, the very tree was exhibited to the curious in Sir John Mandeville's days: "And faste by, is zit the Tree of Eldre, that Judas henge him self upon, for despeyt that he hadde, whan he solde and betrayed oure Lorde." VOIAGE AND TRAVAILE, &c. p. 112. ed. 1725. But, according to Pulci, Judas had recourse to a carob-tree:
"Era di sopra a la fonte UN CARRUBBIO, L'ARBOR, SI DICE, OVE S'IMPICCO GIUDA," &c. MORGANTE MAG. C. xxv. st. 77.]
[Footnote 177: nasty: Old ed. "masty."]
[Footnote 178: me: Old ed. "we".]
[Footnote 179: Enter Ferneze, &c.: Scene, the interior of the Council- house.]
[Footnote 180: him: Qy. "'em"?]
[Footnote 181: Exeunt all, leaving Barabas on the floor: Here the audience were to suppose that Barabas had been thrown over the walls, and that the stage now represented the outside of the city.]
[Footnote 182: Bassoes: Here old ed. "Bashawes." See note §, p. 164. [Footnote i.e. note 117.]]
[Footnote 183: trench: A doubtful reading.--Old ed. "Truce."--"Query 'sluice'? 'TRUCE' seems unintelligible." COLLIER (apud Dodsley's O. P.).--The Rev. J. Mitford proposes "turret" or "tower."]
[Footnote 184: channels: i.e. kennels.]
[Footnote 185: Enter CALYMATH, &c.: Scene, an open place in the city.]
[Footnote 186: vail: i.e. lower, stoop.]
[Footnote 187: To kept: i.e. To have kept.]
[Footnote 188: Entreat: i.e. Treat.]
[Footnote 189: Bassoes: Here old ed. "Bashawes." See note §, p. 164. [Footnote i.e. note 117.]]
[Footnote 190: Thus hast thou gotten, &c.: A change of scene is supposed here--to the Citadel, the residence of Barabas as governor.]
[Footnote 191: Whenas: i.e. When.
[Footnote 192: Within here: The usual exclamation is "Within THERE!" but compare THE HOGGE HATH LOST HIS PEARLE (by R. Tailor), 1614; "What, ho! within HERE!" Sig. E 2.]
[Footnote 193: sith: i.e. since.]
[Footnote 194: cast: i.e. plot, contrive.]
[Footnote 195: Bassoes: Here and afterwards old ed. "Bashawes." See note §, p. 164. [i.e. note 117.]--Scene, outside the walls of the city.]
[Footnote 196: basilisk[s: See note , p. 25.
[note ||, p. 25, The First Part of Tamburlaine the Great: "|| basilisks: Pieces of ordnance so called. They were of immense size; see Douce's ILLUST. OF SHAKESPEARE, i. 425."]
[Footnote 197: And, toward Calabria, &c.: So the Editor of 1826.--Old ed. thus:
"And toward Calabria back'd by Sicily, Two lofty Turrets that command the Towne. WHEN Siracusian Dionisius reign'd; I wonder how it could be conquer'd thus?"]
[Footnote 198: Enter FERNEZE, &c.: Scene, a street.]
[Footnote 199: linstock: "i.e. the long match with which cannon are fired." STEEVENS (apud Dodsley's O. P.).]
[Footnote 200: Enter, above, &c.: Scene, a hall in the Citadel, with a gallery.]
[Footnote 201: FIRST CARPENTER.: Old ed. here "Serv."; but it gives "CARP." as the prefix to the second speech after this.]
[Footnote 202: off: An interpolation perhaps.]
[Footnote 203: sun: Old ed. "summe."]
[Footnote 204: ascend: Old ed. "attend."]
[Footnote 205: A charge sounded within: FERNEZE cuts the cord; the floor of the gallery gives way, and BARABAS falls into a caldron placed in a pit.
Enter KNIGHTS and MARTIN DEL BOSCO
Old ed. has merely "A charge, the cable cut, A Caldron discouered."]
[Footnote 206: Christian: Old ed. "Christians."]
[Footnote 207: train: i.e. stratagem.]
[Footnote 208: pretended: i.e. intended.]
[Footnote 209: mediate: Old ed. "meditate."]
[Footnote 210: all: Old ed. "call."]
SQUARE BRACKETS: The square brackets, i.e. [ ] are copied from the printed book, without change, except that the stage directions usually do not have closing brackets. These have been added.
FOOTNOTES: For this E-Text version of the book, the footnotes have been consolidated at the end of the play.
Numbering of the footnotes has been changed, and each footnote is given a unique identity in the form [XXX].
CHANGES TO THE TEXT: Character names were expanded. For Example, BARABAS was BARA., FERNEZE was FERN., etc.