Part 11

_Pistolls shot within._ Inserted before 72 in B; A omits.

90-93 _And if . . . groomes_. A omits.

_She offers to help him._ Inserted before 95 in B. A omits.

119 _Now_. A, And.

135 _in_. A, gainst.

136 _drifts of_. A, endless.

146 _struck_. Emend. ed.; Qq, stuck.

_Moritur_. A omits.

147-153 _Farewell . . . humanity_. These lines are placed by A at the close of the Scene, and are preceded by three lines which B omits:--

My terrors are strook inward, and no more My pennance will allow they shall enforce Earthly afflictions but upon my selfe.

147 _reliques_. A, relicts.

149 _Joine flames with Hercules_. So in A; B, Jove flames with her rules.

151 _chrystall_. A, continent.

154 _Son . . . soule_. Before this line B has _Frier_.

155 _Rues . . . heaven_. After this line A inserts:--

Since thy revengefull spirit hath rejected The charitie it commands, and the remission To serve and worship the blind rage of bloud.

163 _kneeling_. A, sitting.

173 _No place . . . compriseth_. After this line A inserts:--

My soule more scruple breeds than my bloud sinne, Vertue imposeth more than any stepdame.

186-187 _Come . . . plaints_. A omits.

192 [_are_]. Added by Dilke; Qq omit.

196 _enterd_. A; B, enterr'd.

201 _a_. A omits.

EPILOGUE

With many hands you have seene D'Ambois slaine; Yet by your grace he may revive againe, And every day grow stronger in his skill To please, as we presume he is in will. The best deserving actors of the time 5 Had their ascents, and by degrees did clime To their full height, a place to studie due. To make him tread in their path lies in you; Hee'le not forget his makers, but still prove His thankfulnesse, as you encrease your love. 10

_FINIS._

LINENOTES:

_Epilogue_ Not found in A.

Notes To Bussy D'Ambois

_For the meaning of single words see the Glossary._

=Prologue.= The allusions in these lines can be only partially explained. The play had evidently been performed, not long before 1641, by a company which had not possessed original acting rights in it. The performance had been successful (cf. ll. 3-4 "the grace of late It did receive"), and the "King's men," while not claiming a monopoly in it, nor seeking to detract from their rivals' merits, felt bound to revive the play on their own account, lest they should seem to be letting their claim go by default. It is possible that in ll. 11-12, they refer to a performance that in vindication of this claim they had given at Court, while, as further evidence of their priority of interest, they remind the audience of the actors belonging to the company who had appeared in the title-rôle. Nathaniel Field (l. 15), born in 1587, had as a boy been one of the "Children of the Queen's Revels," and had performed in Jonson's _Cynthia's Revels_, 1600, and _Poetaster_, 1601. He seems to have joined the King's players soon after 1614, and his name appears in the list of "the principall actors in all these playes" prefixed to the first Shakespearean Folio of 1623. Not long after this period, Field, who by his _Woman is a Weathercock_ (1612) and his _Amends for Ladies_ (1618) had made a reputation as a dramatist as well as an actor, is believed to have retired from the stage, though he lived till 1633. If, however, he did not appear as Bussy till after 1614, when the play had already been at least seven years, perhaps considerably longer, on the boards, it can scarcely be said with truth that his "action first did give it name" (l. 16). His successor in the part, whom the "gray beard" (l. 18) of advancing years had now disqualified, cannot be identified; but the "third man" (l. 21) is probably Ilyard Swanston, who, according to Fleay (_Biog. Chron. of Drama_, vol. I, p. 60), was one of the "King's men" from 1625 to 1642. His impersonation of Bussy is favourably referred to by Edmund Gayton in his _Festivous Notes upon Don Quixote_ (1654), p. 25 and his previous rôle of "Richard" (l. 23) may have been that of Ricardo in Massinger's _Picture_, which he had played in 1629 (cf. Phelps, _Geo. Chap._ p. 125). The earlier editors thought that Charles Hart was here alluded to, but Wright in his _Historia Histrionica_ states it was the part of the Duchess in Shirley's _Cardinal_, licensed 1641, that first gave him any reputation. Hence he cannot at this date have performed Bussy; his fame in the part was made after the Restoration (cf. Introduction, p. xxv).

=5-6=, 1-33. =Fortune . . . port.= This opening speech of Bussy illustrates the difficult compression of Chapman's style and the diversion of his thought from strictly logical sequence by his excessive use of simile. He begins (ll. 1-4) by emphasising the paradoxical character of human affairs, in which only those escape poverty who are abnormal, while it is among the necessitous that worthily typical representatives of the race must be sought. The former class, under the designation of "great men," are then (after a parenthetical comparison with cedars waxing amidst tempests) likened to statuaries who are satisfied if the exterior of the Colossus they are creating is sufficiently imposing; they are then (by an awkward transition of the imagery) likened to the statues themselves (l. 15) "heroique" in form but "morter, flint, and lead" within. Chapman's meaning is here obvious enough, but it is a singular canon of æsthetics that estimates the worth of a statue by the materials out of which it is made. In l. 18 a new thought is started, that of the transitoriness of life, and the perishable nature of its gifts, and as the ocean-voyager needs a stay-at-home pilot to steer him safely into port, so the adventurer in "the waves of glassie glory" (ll. 29-30) is bidden look to "vertue" for guidance to his desired haven--not exactly the conclusion to be expected from the opening lines of the speech.

=6=, 23. =To put a girdle . . . world.= The editors all compare _Mid. Night's Dream_, I, 1, 175, which Chapman probably had in mind.

=7=, 34. =in numerous state.= A play of words, apparently, on two senses of the phrase: (1) the series of numbers, (2) a populous kingdom.

=8=, 59. =gurmundist.= The _N. E. D._ quotes no other example of the form "gurmundist" for "gurmond" = "gourmand."

=9=, 86-87. =set my looks In an eternall brake:= keep my countenance perpetually immoveable. A "brake" is a piece of framework for holding something steady.

=15=, 187. =I am a poet.= This is historically true. A poem of some length, _Stances faictes par M. de Bussy_, is quoted by Joubert in his _Bussy D'Amboise_, pp. 205-09.

=15=, 194-95. =chaine And velvet jacket:= the symbols of a steward's office.

=16=, 207. =his woodden dagger.= The Elizabethan jester carried the wooden dagger or sword, which was often one of the properties of the "Vice" in the later Moralities and the Interludes.

=17=, =Pyra.= Though this character is mentioned here and elsewhere among the _Dramatis Personæ_, she takes no part in the dialogue.

=17=, 2. _that English virgin:_ apparently Annable, who is the Duchess of Guise's lady-in-waiting (cf. III, 2, 234-40).

=18=, 15. =what's that to:= what has that to do with.

=18=, 16-27. =Assure you . . . confusion to it.= With this encomium on Elizabeth and her Court compare Crequi's account of Byron's compliments to the Queen (_Byron's Conspiracie_, IV, 1).

=19=, 36. =Which we must not affect:= which change, however, we must not desire to take place.

=19=, 39-43. =No question . . . as they.= The travelled Englishman's affectation of foreign attire is a stock theme of Elizabethan satire. Cf. (e. g.) _Merch. of Ven._ I, 2, 78-81.

=19=, 44. =travell.= A pun on the two senses, (1) journey, (2) labour, the latter of which is now distinguished by the spelling "travail."

=21=, 85. =Tis leape yeare.= F. G. Fleay (_Biog. Chron._ I, 59) considers that this refers "to the date of production, as Bussy's introduction at Court was in 1569, not a Leap Year," and that it "fixes the time of representation to 1604." See _Introduction_.

=22=, 110. =the groome-porters.= Chapman here transfers to the French Court an official peculiar to the English Royal Household till his abolition under George III. The function of the groom-porter was to furnish cards and dice for all gaming at Court, and to decide disputes arising at play.

=23=, 123. =the guiserd.= The play on words here is not clear; "guiserd" may be a variant of "gizzard," in which case it would mean the Duke's throat. This is more probable than a "jingling allusion . . . to goose-herd or gozzard," which Dilke suggests.

=23=, 124. =are you blind of that side:= unguarded and assailable in that direction.

=23=, 130. =Accius Nævius:= the augur who cut a whetstone in pieces in presence of Tarquinius Priscus.

=23=, 133. =mate:= either _match_ or _put down_, _overcome_. The latter sense is more probable, with a punning allusion to the use of the word in chess, at which Guise seems to be engaged with the King. Cf. l. 184.

=23=, 135-36. =of the new edition:= of the recent creation. An allusion to the lavish creation of knights by James, shortly after his accession.

=24=, 141-42. =y'ave cut too many throats.= An allusion to Guise's share in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. Contrast the references to the episode in _The Revenge_, II, 1, 198-234.

=24=, 149. =the Knights ward.= Dilke thought that the allusion here was to the "poor knights of Windsor," but it really refers to a part of the "Counter" prison in London. Cf. _Eastward Hoe_, V, 2, 54, where Wolf says of Sir Petronel Flash, "The knight will i' the Knights-Ward, doe what we can, sir." (See Schelling's note.)

=24=, 163-64. =out a th' presence:= outside the presence of the Sovereign.

=25=, 168. =like a rush.= An allusion to the custom, still prevalent in Chapman's time, of strewing floors with rushes.

=25=, 178-79. =of the place The divers frames.= An obscure expression, which may mean: the varied character in different places of the bed of the sea.

=25=, 180-83. =Bristled . . . fome.= The imagery in these lines also presents difficulty. D'Ambois's heart is likened to the sea, which, once swollen into billows, will not sink into its original calm till it is overspread by the crown or sheet of foam which the waves, after their subsidence, leave behind.

=25=, 184. =You have the mate.= Cf. textual note on I, 1, 153, and note on =23=, 133, p. 148.

=26=, 208. =a blanquet.= To toss D'Ambois in, as is plain from l. 212.

=26=, 211. =carrie it cleane:= comes off easily superior.

=27=, 237-38. =Your descants . . . this ground.= There is a complicated play on words here. _Descant_ in music is the melodious accompaniment to a simple theme, the _plainsong_ or _ground_. Hence arises the derived meaning, _a variation on any theme_, _a comment_, often of a censorious kind. This, as well as the original meaning, is implied here, while _ground_ has, of course, its usual as well as its technical sense.

=28=, 243-44. =Ile be your ghost to haunt you.= May this be an early reference to Banquo's ghost? _Macbeth_ was probably produced in 1606, the year before _Bussy D'Ambois_ was printed.

=28=, 261. =musk-cats:= _civet-cats_, and hence, _scented persons_, _fops_.

=28=, 262. =this priviledge.= The royal presence-chamber, though the King has left it, is still regarded as inviolable.

=29=. =Henry, Guise, Montsurry and Attendants.= The Qq of 1607 and 1608, instead of _Montsurry and Attendants_, read _Beaumond, Nuncius_. _Nuncius_ is a mistake, as he does not enter till after l. 24. _Beaumond_ is evidently a courtier, who speaks ll. 105-107 (_Such a life . . . of men_), and who goes out with the King after l. 206. In 1641 and later Qq it was apparently thought desirable to leave out this "single-speech" character and transfer his words to Montsurry; but by an oversight _Beau._ was left prefixed to the second half of l. 105, and the S. D., _Exit Rex cum Beau._, was retained after l. 206. The editor has therefore substituted _Mont._ for _Beau._ in either case. Montsurry being thus present at the pardon of Bussy, the 1641 and later Qq leave out ll. 1-50 of the next Scene wherein _inter alia_ Montsurry speaks of the pardon as yet undecided, and Guise enters to announce it to him.

Dilke in his edition in 1814 thought _Beaumond_ a misprint for _Beaupre_, who appears in other scenes, and whom he took to be a man, instead of a woman. Hence he reads _Montsurry, Beaupre and Attendants_ both here and after l. 206. The other editors have not realized that there is any discrepancy to be explained.

=29=, 12-13. =bruits it . . . healthfull:= proclaims it through the world to be sound and wholesome.

=31=, 51-52. =Pyrrho's opinion . . . are one.= A sweeping generalisation, which cannot be accepted as an interpretation of the doctrines of the sceptical philosopher of Elis.

=31=, 54-58. =As Hector . . . speak.= The reference is to _Iliad_, VII, 54 ff., though Hector is there described as keeping back the Trojans with his spear.

=32=, 60. =Ript up the quarrell:= explained the cause and origin of the quarrel (Dilke).

=32=, 63-64. =conclude The others dangers:= might put an end to the risks of their companions by making their single combat cover the whole quarrel. _Conclude_ here unites the Elizabethan sense _include_ with the ordinary meaning _finish_.

=32=, 77-80. =And then . . . never kill.= An anticipation, as Lamb and others have pointed out, of Milton's description of angelic wounds, _Par. Lost_, VI, 344-49.

=33=, 84-87. =Thrice pluckt . . . scap't.= The accumulation of personal pronouns makes the interpretation somewhat difficult: thrice D'Ambois plucked at it, and thrice drew on thrusts from Barrisor who darted hither and thither like flame, and continued thrusting as D'Ambois plucked; yet, incredible to relate, the latter escaped injury.

=33=, 90. =only made more horrid with his wound:= Barrisor being only rendered fiercer by his wound. The construction is loose, as grammatically the words should qualify D'Ambois.

=33=, 92. =redoubled in his danger:= thrusting himself into danger for the second time. For this peculiar use of _redoubled_ cf. l. 190, "on my knees redoubled," and note.

=33=, 94. =Arden.= Probably to be no more identified here with the Warwickshire district of this name than in _As You Like It_. Ardennes would be more appropriate on a Frenchman's lips, but the district belongs to the realm of fancy as much as Armenia in l. 117.

=33=, 97. =he gan to nodde.= An anacoluthon. The construction should be "begin to nodde" after "I have seene an oke" in l. 94, but the intervening participial clauses produce irregularity. Similarily in l. 101 "he fell" should be "fall" and "hid" should be "hide."

=33=, 103-104. =Of ten set . . . Navarre.= The war between Henry III and Henry of Navarre continued from 1587 to 1589, but the "ten set battles" are without historical foundation.

=34=, 105. [=Montsurry.=] See note on stage direction at beginning of the scene.

=34=, 108. =felt report:= probably, account related with feeling.

=34=, 121. =the treasure of his brow:= his horn.

=34=, 122. =shelter of a tree.= Unicorns were supposed to be worsted in encounters by their adversaries sheltering behind trees, in which they impaled themselves. Spenser, _F. Q._ II, 5, 10, describes how a lion defeats a unicorn by this stratagem. Cf. _Jul. Cæs._ II, 1, 303-04.

"He loves to hear That unicorns may be betray'd with trees."

=34=, 128. =th' tw' other=, i. e. Pyrrhot and Melynell.

=35=, 130. =hunt Honour at the view.= A rare metaphorical application of the technical phrase, "hunt at the view."

=35.= [=Exit Nuntius.=] The editor has inserted this, as the Qq do not indicate when the Nuncius departs, and, with the entrance of Bussy, there is no further need of him. =bare:= bareheaded.

=35=, 141-44. =If ever Nature . . . one.= Difficult lines, which may be paraphrased: if ever Nature's bond maintained its strength, when subjected to the severe test of bridging the distance between sovereign and subject, both sprung from the same seed, now prove that in elevated stations she can show her nobility.

=36=, 156. =that=, i. e. positive law.

=36=, 157. =prefixing:= settling beforehand.

=36=, 164. =this fact, though of justice:= this action, though done in the name of justice.

=37=, 170. =he=, i. e. his enemy.

=37=, 175-76. =which . . . him:= which is more precious than a human life, which is inferior in value to it, and which was rightly forfeited to him through ill-doing.

=37=, 190. =This is a grace.= The grace or boon for which Bussy asks is explained by him in ll. 193-203. "This" usually refers to something that has gone before, =on my knees redoubled:= going down for the second time on my knees--from which he had risen after l. 179.

=37=, 192. =And shall=, i. e. And which grace shall.

=38=, 198-204. =Let me . . . King indeed.= With this assertion of man's original "Kingship" cf. _The Gentleman Usher_, V, 1.

And what's a prince? Had all been virtuous men, There never had been prince upon the earth, And so no subject: all men had been princes. A virtuous man is subject to no prince, But to his soul and honour.

=38.= [=Exit Rex cum Montsurry.=] See note on stage direction at beginning of this scene.

=40=, 18. =Although she be my ante.= From these words we learn that Beaupre is niece to the Duke and Duchess of Guise. Compare III, ii, 188, and the reference to "my lady, your niece" in the passage in Qq 1607 and 1608 quoted in the textual note on III, ii, 233.

=42=, 49. =an agent for my bloud:= an instrument in the satisfaction of my passions.

=42=, 57-58. =his retiring . . . aspiring:= his retirement to a position of inferiority will satisfy my aspirations.

=43=, 70-71. =Wise wives . . . friend.= Tamyra ironically keeps up the metaphor of the "two strings" in l. 66, and plays upon the double senses of "firm" and "loose" in archery and morals.

=44=, 95. =as good cheap as it:= literally, on as advantageous terms as; hence, with as little effort as, as readily as.

=45=, 108-10. =Whose there . . . quality.= Cf. _All Fools_, II, 1, p. 67 (Phelps).

While I sit like a well-taught writing-woman Turning her eyes upon some work or picture, Read in a book, or take a feigned nap, While her kind lady takes one to her lap.

=45=, 117. =oportunities:= importunities, which Dilke wished to substitute. But "opportunity" was used in this sense. Cf. _Mer. Wiv. Wind._ III, 4, 20-2.

"Yet seeke my Fathers love, still seeke it, sir; If opportunity and humblest suite Cannot attain it, why then harke you hither."

=45=, 121-122. =as to their pardons . . . Parliaments.= The meaning appears to be: as the exceptions they make, after Parliaments have ceased to sit, are to the pardons they have granted.

=46=, 129. =part'st with victory:= comest off victoriously.

=48=, 165. =the Center:= the unmoved central point of the earth, according to the Ptolemaic system.

=49=, 182. =cast . . . beene:= undress, as if I had never been watching here. Tamyra here determines to go to bed, but afterwards (l. 242) she returns.

=49=, 198. =the first orbe move.= An allusion to the _Primum Mobile_, which, in the Ptolemaic system, was the tenth sphere "of a most pure and cleare substance and without starres," which revolved in twenty-four hours, and carried round in its course all the inner spheres.

=51=, 231-32. =If not . . . satisfi'd:= if she is not given opportunity to dissemble or show petulance, she is not satisfied even if she gains what she desires.

=56=, 20-30. =Sin . . . troth.= A characteristic illustration of how one simile in Chapman's verse begets another, with little regard for logical sequence. The "shadowes" with which sin frightens us are first compared to the imaginary creatures into which fancy shapes the clouds; then sin itself (relegated from an active to a passive part) is likened not to a pure creation of the fancy, but to an exaggerated picture of a real monster displayed by "policy," i. e. the craft which seeks to debar men from their desires.

For the custom of exhibiting a rude painting of a curiosity, as a decoy to sightseers, cf. _The Tempest_, II, 2, 29-31, "Were I in England now . . . and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of silver."

=56=, 21. =in his truest valour:= if his valour be rightly estimated.

=56=, 33. =our three powers.= The vegetative, sensitive and reasoning faculties.

=56-57=, 40-43. =Nor shall . . . wings.= Tamyra's "fame," which in l. 38 has been spoken of as a "jewell," is now likened to a fabulous winged creature which is accorded free flight.

=57=, 44. =It rests as:= the secret remains as inviolable as if.

=58=, 69-71. =layes . . . oppos'd.= I am indebted to Dr. J. A. H. Murray for the following interpretation of this passage: [Nature] brings our powers into accordance with its own will or working, just as the stone (laid by the builder) should be apposed or brought into accord with the line, not the line (which is straight and not to be shifted) made to lie along the stone.

=60=, 119. =greatnesse with him:= high place in his favour.

=62=, 13. =Boots of hay-ropes.= Bands of hay were sometimes wrapped round the legs, to serve instead of boots. Cf. Ben Jonson's _Every Man in his Humour_, I, 2. _Step._ But I have no boots . . . _Brainworm_. Why a fine wisp of hay roll'd hard, Master Stephen.

=62=, 18. =a redhair'd man:= a deceiver, traitor; so called from the representation of Judas in tapestries, and probably on the stage of the Miracle plays, with red hair.

=63=, 23. =put them up:= start them from their cover.

=63=, 28. =That . . . clapdish:= That keeps regal state, though sprung from beggary. A clapdish was a wooden dish with a lid, carried by beggars and lepers, which they clapped to announce their approach.

=63=, 46. =Venting . . . Hebrew:= putting the best product of his livings to the reverse of its intended use. Hebrew is read backwards.

=65=, 69. =that popular purple.= An allusion to the Duke's robe, which was of royal purple, to impress the populace.

=65=, 76. =He's noblier borne.= "Noblier" has been here substituted for "nobly." The parallel phrases in the preceding lines are all comparatives, "better," "more," "greater," and Bussy, in the second half of this line, cannot mean to deny that Guise is of noble birth.

=65=, 79. =Cardinall of Ambois.= The Cardinal Georges d'Amboise was in reality Bussy's great-uncle.

=66=, 84. =great in faction:= active in promoting leagues.

=66=, 86-87. =Be a duke . . . field.= A play, of course, on the original meaning of Duke, as _Dux_ or _leader_.

=67=, 108. =the Hermean rod:= the caduceus or rod of Hermes, with which he parted two fighting serpents, whereupon they embraced and stuck to the rod.

=69=, 144-47. =and as this . . . pride.= An allusion to the myth of the giant Typhoeus who, according to one version, was created by Hera alone, in anger at the birth of Pallas from the head of Zeus. He was killed by Zeus with a flash of lighting, and was buried in Tartarus under Mt. Etna.