A Select Collection of Old English Plays Volume Ix Part 121

--_Hawkins_. [Scarcely, for there are two sons recovered in that play, and the incident of finding a long-lost child is not an uncommon one in the drama. We have a daughter thus found in Pericles.--_Ebsworth_.]

[31] [Some of the old copies read _make_.]

[32] Old copy, _furens_.

[33] Old copy, _lanching_.

[34] [Old copies, _is_.]

[35] [It is probably well known that on the early stage vinegar was used where there was a necessity for representing bloodshed. Compare the pa.s.sage in Preston's "Cambyses," iv. 217.]

[36] Old copy, _utensilies_.

[37] Old copy, _sly_.

[38] Old copy, _soure_.

[39] [Old copy, _clear the vsuall_, &c.]

[40] "Belvidere; or, The Garden of the Muses," 8vo, 1600, in which are quoted sentences out of Spenser, Constable, and the rest, digested under a commonplace. [Another edition in 1610. It is a book of no value or interest.]

[41] [Left blank in the old copy. The ostensible editor of "Belvidere"

was John Bodenham, but he is evidently not the person referred to here.]

[42] [Alluding to the device on the t.i.tle of the volume.]

[43] [Two of the old copies read _swifter_.]

[44] [Some copies read _S.D_.]

[45] As the works of some of the poets here cited are become obscure, it may not be unacceptable to the reader to see a few specimens of their several abilities. Constable was esteemed the first sonneteer of his time, and the following sonnet, prefixed to King James I.'s "Poetical Exercises" was the most admired--

TO THE KING OF SCOTLAND.

"When others hooded with blind love do fly Low on the ground with buzzard Cupid's wings, A heavenly love from love of love thee brings, And makes thy Muse to mount above the sky: Young Muses be not wont to fly so high, Age school'd by time such sober ditties sings, But thy love flies from love of youthful things, And so the wings of time doth overfly.

Thus thou disdain'st all worldly wings as slow, Because thy Muse with angels' wings doth leave Time's wings behind, and Cupid's wings below; But take thou heed, lest Fame's wings thee deceive, With all thy speed from fame thou canst not flee,-- But more thou flees, the more it follows thee."

[46] Lodge was a physician as well as a poet; he was the author of two plays, and eminent, in his day, for writing elegant odes, pastoral songs, sonnets, and madrigals. His "Euphues' Golden Legacy" was printed 4to, 1590, from which some suppose Shakespeare took his "As You Like It." Description of spring by Lodge--

"The earth late choak'd with showers, Is now array'd in green, Her bosom springs with flowers, The air dissolves her teen; The woods are deck'd with leaves, And trees are clothed gay, And Flora, crown'd with sheaves, With oaken boughs doth play; The birds upon the trees Do sing with pleasant voices, And chant, in their degrees, Their loves and lucky choices."

[47] Watson was contemporary with, and imitator of, Sir Philip Sydney, with Daniel, Lodge, Constable, and others, in the pastoral strain of sonnets, &c. Watson thus describes a beautiful woman--

"Her yellow locks exceed the beaten gold, Her sparkling eyes in heav'n a place deserve.

Her forehead high and fair, of comely mould; Her words are music all, of silver sound.

Her wit so sharp, as like can scarce be found: Each eyebrow hangs, like Iris in the skies, Her eagle's nose is straight, of stately frame, On either cheek a rose and lily lies, Her breath is sweet perfume or holy flame; Her lips more red than any coral stone, Her neck more white than aged swans that moan: Her breast transparent is, like crystal rock, Her fingers long, fit for Apollo's lute, Her slipper such, as Momus dare not mock; Her virtues are so great as make me mute: What other parts she hath I need not say, Whose face alone is cause of my decay."

[48] [This pa.s.sage is a rather important piece of evidence in favour of the ident.i.ty of the poet with the physician.]

[49] [Sir] John Davis [author of "Nosce Teipsum," &c.]

[50] Old copy, _sooping_.

[51] Lock and Hudson were the Bavius and Maevius of that time. The latter gives us this description of fear--

"Fear lendeth wings to aged folk to fly, And made them mount to places that were high; Fear made the woful child to wail and weep, For want of speed on foot and hands to creep."

[Hudson, however, enjoyed some repute in his time, and is known as the translator from Du Bartas of the "History of Judith," 8vo, 1584. Lock published in 1597 a volume containing an English version of "Ecclesiastes" and a series of sonnets.]

[52] John Marston, a bold and nervous writer in Elizabeth's reign: the work here censured was, no doubt, his "Scourge of Villanie, 3 Books of Satyrs," 1598.

[53] Marlowe's character is well marked in these lines: he was an excellent poet, but of abandoned morals, and of the most impious principles; a complete libertine and an avowed atheist. He lost his life in a riotous fray; for, detecting his servant with his mistress, he rushed into the room with a dagger in order to stab him, but the man warded off the blow by seizing Marlowe's wrist, and turned the dagger into his own head: he languished some time of the wound he received, and then died, [in] the year 1593.--_A. Wood_.

[54] [Omitted in some copies.]

[55] [Omitted in some copies.]

[56] Churchyard wrote Jane Sh.o.r.e's Elegy in "Mirror for Magistrates,"

4to, [1574. It is reprinted, with additions, in his "Challenge," 1593.]

[57] Isaac Walton, in his "Life of Hooker," calls Nash a man of a sharp wit, and the master of a scoffing, satirical, merry pen. His satirical vein was chiefly exerted in prose; and he is said to have more effectually discouraged and nonplussed Penry, the most notorious anti-prelate, Richard Harvey the astrologer, and their adherents, than all serious writers who attacked them. That he was no mean poet will appear from the following description of a beautiful woman--

"Stars fall to fetch fresh light from her rich eyes, Her bright brow drives the sun to clouds beneath, Her hairs' reflex with red streaks paint the skies, Sweet morn and evening dew falls from her breath."

[58] Ital. _stocco_, or long rapier.

[59] A tusk.

[60] [Some copies read _turne_.]

[61] [John Danter, the printer. Nash, it will be remembered, was called by Harvey _Danter's man_, because some of his books came from that press. See the next scene.]

[62] [A few corrections have been ventured upon in the French and Latin sc.r.a.ps, as the speaker does not appear to have been intended to blunder.]

[63] [Old copies, _procures_.]

[64] [Old copies, _thanked_.]

[65] [Old copies, _Fly--revengings_.]

[66] [Old copy, _gale_.]

[67] [Old copy, _gracis_.]

[68] [Old copy, _filthy_.]

[69] [Old copies, _seat_.]

[70] [In the old copy the dialogue is as usual given so as to make utter nonsense, which was apparently not intended.]