Narcissus Part 3

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 nave 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 cla.s.sical 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 s.h.i.+ver.

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 nave custom, Florida's words at the end of the short part a.s.signed 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 ident.i.ty 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 "personae privilegiatae," 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 cla.s.ses 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 Worcesters.h.i.+re 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 p.r.o.nounce 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 circ.u.mstantial 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 proctors.h.i.+p, 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 Ca.s.silis; 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 cla.s.sical 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.