FOOTNOTES:

Eum.God speed, faire maide sitting alone: there is once.God speed, faire maide; there is twise:800God speed, faire maide, that is thrise.

Eum.God speed, faire maide sitting alone: there is once.

God speed, faire maide; there is twise:800

God speed, faire maide, that is thrise.

Delia.Not so, good sir, for you are by.

Jack.Enough, maister, she hath spoke; now I will leave her with you.

Eum.Thou fairest flower of these westerne parts,805Whose beautie so reflecteth in my sight,As doth a christall mirror in the sonne:For thy sweet sake I have crost the frosen Rhine,[1130]Leaving faire Po, I saild up Danuby,As farre as Saba, whose inhansing streames810Cuts twixt the Tartars and the Russians,—These have I crost for thee, faire Delia:Then grant me that which I have sude for long.Del.Thou gentle knight, whose fortune is so good,To finde me out, and set my brothers free,815My faith, my heart, my hand, I give to thee.

Eum.Thou fairest flower of these westerne parts,805

Whose beautie so reflecteth in my sight,

As doth a christall mirror in the sonne:

For thy sweet sake I have crost the frosen Rhine,[1130]

Leaving faire Po, I saild up Danuby,

As farre as Saba, whose inhansing streames810

Cuts twixt the Tartars and the Russians,—

These have I crost for thee, faire Delia:

Then grant me that which I have sude for long.

Del.Thou gentle knight, whose fortune is so good,To finde me out, and set my brothers free,815My faith, my heart, my hand, I give to thee.

Del.Thou gentle knight, whose fortune is so good,

To finde me out, and set my brothers free,815

My faith, my heart, my hand, I give to thee.

Eum.Thankes, gentle madame: but heere comes Jack; thanke him, for he is the best friend that we have.

EnterJackwith a head in his hand.

Eum.How now, Jack, what hast thou there?

Jack.Mary, maister, the head of the conjurer.820

Eum.Why, Jack, that is impossible; he was a young man.

Jack.Ah, maister, so he deceived them that beheld him: but hee was a miserable, old, and crooked man; though to each mans eye h[e see]med young and fresh. For, maister, this Conjurer tooke the shape of the olde man that kept the crosse: and that olde man825was in the likenesse of the Conjurer.[1131]But nowe, maister, winde your horne.He windes his horne.

EnterVenelia,the two Brothers, and he that was at the Crosse.

Eu.Welcome, Erestus, welcome, faire Venelia,[1132]Welcome, Thelea, and Kalepha[1133]both!Now have I her that I so long have sought,830So saith faire Delia, if we have your consent.1. Bro.Valiant Eumenides, thou well deservestTo have our favours: so let us rejoyce,That by thy meanes we are at libertie.Heere may we joy each in others sight,835And this faire Lady have her wandring knight.

Eu.Welcome, Erestus, welcome, faire Venelia,[1132]Welcome, Thelea, and Kalepha[1133]both!Now have I her that I so long have sought,830So saith faire Delia, if we have your consent.

Eu.Welcome, Erestus, welcome, faire Venelia,[1132]

Welcome, Thelea, and Kalepha[1133]both!

Now have I her that I so long have sought,830

So saith faire Delia, if we have your consent.

1. Bro.Valiant Eumenides, thou well deservestTo have our favours: so let us rejoyce,That by thy meanes we are at libertie.Heere may we joy each in others sight,835And this faire Lady have her wandring knight.

1. Bro.Valiant Eumenides, thou well deservest

To have our favours: so let us rejoyce,

That by thy meanes we are at libertie.

Heere may we joy each in others sight,835

And this faire Lady have her wandring knight.

Jack.So, maister, nowe yee thinke you have done: but I must have a saying to you. You know you and I were partners, I to have halfe in all you got.

Eum.Why, so thou shalt, Jack.840

Jack.Why, then, maister draw your sworde, part your Lady, let mee have halfe of her presently.

Eumenid.Why, I hope, Jack, thou doost but jest; I promist thee halfe I got, but not halfe my Lady.

Jack.But what else, maister? have you not gotten her? Therefore845devide her straight, for I will have halfe; there is no remedie.

Eumen.Well, ere I will falsifie my worde unto my friend, take her all; heere Jack, Ile give her thee.

Jacke.Nay, neither more nor lesse, maister, but even just halfe.

Eum.Before I will falsifie my faith unto my friend, I will divide850hir; Jacke, thou shalt have halfe.

1. Brother.Bee not so cruell unto our sister, gentle knight.

2. Brother.O spare faire Delia; shee deserves no death.

Eum.Content your selves; my word is past to him; therefore prepare thy selfe, Delya, for thou must die.855

Delya.Then, farewell, worlde; adew Eumenides.

He offers to strike andJackestaies him.

Jacke.Stay, master; it is sufficient I have tride your constancie. Do you now remember since you paid for the burying of a poore fellow?

Eum.I, very well, Jacke.860

Jacke.Then, master, thanke that good deed for this good turne, and so God be with you all.

Jackeleapes downe in the ground.

Eum.Jacke, what, art thou gone?Then farewell, Jacke.Come, brothers and my beauteous Delya,865Erestus, and thy deare Venelia:We will to Thessalie with joyfull hearts.

Eum.Jacke, what, art thou gone?

Then farewell, Jacke.

Come, brothers and my beauteous Delya,865

Erestus, and thy deare Venelia:

We will to Thessalie with joyfull hearts.

All.Agreed, we follow thee and Delya.

Exeunt omnes.[1134]

Fant.What, Gammer, a sleepe?

Old wom.By the Mas, sonne, tis almost day, and my windowes870shut[1135]at the cocks crow.

Frol.Doo you heare, Gammer, mee thinkes this Jacke bore a great sway amongst them.

Old wom.O, man, this was the ghost of the poore man, that they kept such a coyle to burie, & that makes him to help the875wandring knight so much. But come, let us in: we will have a cup of ale and a tost this morning and so depart.[1136]

Fant.Then you have made an end of your tale, Gammer?

Old wom.Yes, faith. When this was done, I tooke a peece of bread and cheese, and came my way, and so shall you have, too,880before you goe, to your breakefast.

FINIS.

Printed at London byJohn Danter, forRaphHancocke, andJohn Hardie, and are tobe solde at the shop over againstSaint Giles his Church withoutCriplegate.1595.

FOOTNOTES:[1018]A mistake for Frolic.[1019]Alamort, mortally sick; and then, dispirited.[1020]"A gay, reckless fellow."[1021]Below 'Neptune,' Sig. A iii.[1022]B. refers to Ebbsworth,Roxburghe Ballads, IV. 365, 468. See also Nash,Four Letters Confuted(Grosart, II. 190), who says of Harvey's "barefoote rimes" that "they would have trowld off bravely to the tune ofO man in desperation, and, likeMarenzosMadrigals, the mourneful note naturally have affected the miserable Dittie."[1023]Chappell gives the song inPopular Music of the Olden Time, p. 216.Three Merry Menis quoted inWestward Hoe, and in Barry'sRam Alley(sung by Smallshanks: see note, Hazlitt-Dodsley, X. 298), as well as inTwelfth Night; and it is parodied by the musical cook inThe Bloody Brother. Chappell is somewhat daring when he takes these words from theOld Wives' Taleas the original; lines 3 and 4 look like a parody.[1024]Dy. points out the pun in 'wooden' (= mad).[1025]Long wide breeches or trousers; Dy. SeeLooking-Glass for London and England, near end: "This right slop is my pantry, behold a manchet [Draws it out]" ...[1026]A bit of nonsense like the talk of Macbeth's porter. The speech is a sort of parody on the appeal of wandering knights or travellers in romances, and Clunch, with his 'territories,' may take the place of enchanter, giant, or the like.[1027]This use of the third person is common in dramas of the time. See Ward,Old English Drama, Select Plays, etc., Introd., p. xi., notes. So in Greene: "Which Brandamart (i.e.I)" ...; "For Sacripant must have Angelica." It served to identify the actor.[1028]They are now supposed to be at the cottage.[1029]For fear of ...[1030]A crab-apple. The pulp was mixed with ale, 'lamb's wool.'[1031]Collier gave Dyce the following quotation fromMartin's Month's Minde: "leaving the ancient game of England (Trumpe), where every coate and sute are sorted in their degree, are running toRuffe, where the greatest sorte of the sute carrieth away the game."[1032]The familiarmotifof the contented peasant as entertainer of royalty or what not.[1033]According to theJests(Bullen, II. 314), George Peele had no skill in music, and must have been a conspicuous exception; witness the well-known statement of Chappell,Popular Music, p. 98. The barber kept "lute or cittern" in his shop for the amusement of waiting customers; and England had been a land of song from Cædmon's time down. The "man in the street" was expected to know how to join in a part song. The rural song, such as they sing here, was a great favorite with the dramatists.[1034]Chopcherry: "a game in which one tries to catch a suspended cherry with the teeth; bob-cherry." ... New Engl. Dict.[1035]A version ofChilde Rowland?[1036]Peele was probably of a Devonshire family.[1037]A Dogberrian touch, evidently beloved by the pit, and a fine makeweight to those pompous experiments with word and phrase which delighted the serious playgoer.[1038]Below 'extempore,' Sig. B.[1039]SeeCritical Essayfor the folk-tales in question.[1040]handsome.[1041]'he' keeps (frequents, lives),i.e.the young man. Omission of subject is common in the ballads.[1042]The conjurer.[1043]See theCritical Essayfor this "play within the play."[1044]The princes, of course, talk in metre when the "high style" is needed, but in familiar prose with Erestus (= "Senex"). The repetitions in this blank-verse are characteristic.[1045]B. omits. Dy. proposes to omit 'faire.' Neither omission is necessary.[1046]Reminds one of nursery tales with bits of rhyme,—thecante-fableof folk-lore.[1047]So Milton's famous "grey hooded Even, Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed" ...[1048]Below 'gold,' Sig. B ii.[1049]Dy. assumes that "something ... has dropt out"; but this is not necessary. Erestus, who says below that he 'speaks in riddles,' knows the errand of the brothers, and asks the question abruptly. He plays the part of Merlin inChilde Rowland.[1050]The spell is important, solemn, and is therefore repeated. No particular tale of The White Bear of England's Wood is known, but similar cases of transformation are plentiful.[1051]Dy. prints ''chanting'; needlessly.[1052]Below 'mend,' Sig. B iii.[1053]B. notes that "St. Luke's Day (18th October) was the day of Horn Fair; and St. Luke was jocularly regarded as the patron saint of cuckolds. St. Andrew was supposed to bring good luck to lovers." ...[1054]The reference is to the tale preserved in several versions, and known as "The Three Heads of the Well," Jacobs,English Fairy Tales, p. 222. "The Well of the World's End," p. 215, however, has the incident of filling a sieve.[1055]So "God ye good night, and twenty, sir!" In Middleton'sTrick to Catch the Old One—"A thousand farewells." Compare the well-known forms of greeting, as "Grüss' mir mein Liebchen zehntausend mal!" or the elaborate message at the opening of the balladChilde Maurice.[1056]See AppendixBon this Song.[1057]See AppendixA.[1058]The 'Booby' is later called 'Corebus' or 'Chorebus.' See Harvey,The Trimming of Thomas Nashe, Grosart, III. 29: "Thou mayest be cald the very Chorœbus of our time, of whom the proverbe was sayde, more foole than Chorœbus: who was a seely ideot, but yet had the name of a wise man." ...[1059]Mr. Fleay thinks this is a pun upon that eternal theme of satire for Harvey's enemies, the rope-maker's trade of his father. "The name," Mr. Fleay says, "for the stock of Huanebango are adapted from Plautus, Polymachæroplacidus (fromPseudulus), Pyrgopolinices (fromMiles Gloriosus), in shapes which inevitably suggest English puns indicating Harvey's rope-making extraction, Polly-make-a-rope-lass, and Perg-up-a-line-O...." Mr. Fleay is bold.[1060]A difficult passage. Dy. thinks the stock is a sword,—Corebus "has run away from the Parish, and become a sort of knight-errant." Dr. Nicholson: "He has started and they may catch" (if they can) and as a vagabond put him in the stocks. B. makes the clown plume himself on his finery. He points with pride to his feather; and he is equally proud of his fashionable "long stock" (i.e.the stocking fastened high above the knee). This gives better sense than the second explanation; Corebus asserts a sort of equality with Huanebango.[1061]The successful guessing of riddles wins a bride, fortune, liberty, what not, in many a folk-tale.[1062]Below 'the,' Sig. C.[1063]EnterErestus.[1064]care for.[1065]plenty. Corebus quotes the stilted talk of Huanebango.[1066]This gift of the cake reminds one of a similarmotifin the tale ofThe Red Ettin, Jacobs, p. 135.[1067]though times are hard.[1068]sings.[1069]Below 'up,' Sig. C ii.[1070]These tricks of magic are the staple of tales and chapbooks about conjurers, and make a braver showing in plays likeDoctor FaustusandFriar Bacon and Friar Bungay.See the latter play in this volume, and Mr. Ward's introduction to his edition of the two dramas.[1071]Later editions omit. The formula is less uncanny than usual; but the two cocks have grim associations. The dark-red cock of Scandinavian myth belonged to the underworld. SeeThe Wife of Usher's Well, and R. Köhler in theGermania, XI. 85 ff.[1072]The local hits are to be noted: praise for roast beef of England, wine of France, and girding at Spain, at brewers,—one thinks of Falstaff's complaint about the lime in his sack,—friars, and usurers.[1073]Below 'begon,' Sig. C iii.[1074]B. prints: 'heaven [n]or hell shall rescue her from me.'[1075]Did this Echo suggest the song inComus?[1076]The "Life-Index," so called, of popular tales, connected with the equally popularmotifof the "Thankful Dead."[1077]Erestus.[1078]Misprint for 'Corebus.'[1079]Dogberry's distortion of words is about as old as English comedy.[1080]Q.assure.[1081]As above:—a gay, reckless fellow.[1082]According to Sir Walter Scott "the very latest allusion to the institution of brotherhood in arms" is in the ballad ofBewick and Grahame, "sworn brethren" as they are, each "faith and troth" to the other.[1083]That's settled once for all.—Bullen.[1084]Recent editions make the Sexton's speech end here, and put the rest in the stage directions.[1085]Below 'the,' Sig. D.[1086]Open the argument from my side (with the aid of the pike-staff).—Bullen.[1087]Recent eds. [Gives money].[1088]on.[1089]harvesters.[1090]See AppendixB.[1091]Below 'men,' Sig. D ii.[1092]B. points out that Corebus enters a moment later.[1093]"The 'fee-fi-fo-fum' formula is common to all English stories of giants and ogres; it also occurs in Peele's play and inKing Lear.... Messrs. Jones and Krorf have some remarks on it in their 'Magyar Tales,' pp. 340-341; so has Mr. Lang in his 'Perrault,' p. lxiii, where he traces it to the furies in Æschylus'Eumenides."—Jacobs,Eng. Fairy Tales, p. 243.[1094]Recent eds.—EnterSacrapantthe Conjurer andTwo Furies.[1095]Recent eds.—Huanebangois carried out by theTwo Furies.[1096]Recent eds.—StrikesCorebusblind.[1097]goad.[1098]In this and like cases the editors restore a tolerable metre by different printing. Thus 'Here hard' may be taken as part of the preceding line.[1099]Dr. Nicholson would read 'name' to no advantage. Sacrapant says she has forgotten her name, but has not forgotten as much as she ought to forget. The phrase is awkward, but is perhaps more "intelligible" than Mr. Bullen allows.[1100]Below 'to,' Sig. D iii.[1101]Dy. prints 'Well done!'[1102]To the popular tale, here plainly drawn upon, Peele has added an amusing feature which seems to be his own invention. He provides the deaf Huanebango with a scolding wife, while the blind Corebus takes her ugly sister.[1103]As much as "uncomely," "ugly," as shown by the countless passages in Elizabethan literature, and the connotation of the opposite, "fair." Dyce quotes the same phrase,—"though I am blacke, I am not the Divell ..." from Greene's,Quip for an Upstart Courtier.[1104]In The Three Heads of the Well, "a golden head came up singing:—"'Wash me and comb me,And lay me down softly.And lay me on a bank to dry,That I may look prettyWhen somebody passes by.'"[1105]Sc.beard.[1106]The upshot of much investigation seems to be that the phrase to have cockell-bread means to get a lover or a husband.[1107]So in Hartmann'sIwein, a knight pours water from a certain well upon a stone near by; a terrible thunderstorm is the immediate result. A similar act may bring the milder rain for one's crops (Grimm,Mythologie, p. 494).[1108]Harvey had an indifferent ear for verse, and here, perhaps,—since the hexameters follow so hard upon,—is a neat way of stating the fact.[1109]Both Stanyhurst and Harvey were favorites for this sort of ridicule. The hexameters of the former are described admirably by Nash, and, of course, are parodied here. Huff, Ruff, and Snuff were characters in the play ofKing Cambyses. Cf. too Harvey in "Green's Memoriall or certain funerall sonnets" (Son. vi):—"I wott not what these cutting Huffe-snuffes meane,Of alehouse daggers I have little skill...."[1110]Dy. points out that this is an actual line in Harvey'sEncomium Lauri.[1111]Below 'rattle,' Sig. E.[1112]Used by Chaucer to describe the "hunting of the letter," in his day still a normal rule of verse, particularly in the north of England (Prologue to the "Persone's Tale"):—"But trusteth wel, I am a suthern man,I can not geste rum, ram, ruf, by letter...."Professor Skeat (Notes to C.T., p. 446) thinks Peele has Chaucer in mind, and shows that the latter probably borrowed the words "from some French source."[1113]'Ka'=quoth he.—'Wilshaw'? [Qy.: Will ich ha(ve)?Cf.l. 648.Gen. Ed.][1114]Lob's pound, is B. notes, was a phrase of the day for "the thraldom of the hen-pecked married man."[1115]It is hardly necessary to correct this into 'thy.'[1116]As a ghost, of course.[1117]Below 'runne,' Sig. E ii.[1118]The "foot-page" of the ballads.[1119]These rhyming scraps remind one constantly of thecante-fable, of the formula-jingles in popular tales.[1120]Probably a misprint for 'come.'[1121]Below 'pursse,' Sig. E iii.[1122]Celanto.[1123]He is blind.[1124]In the tale there are three heads.[1125]Dyce's copy read 'tost.' Mr. P. A. Daniel: "Qy.: 'Toast'?"[1126]Milton,Comus, 817: "backward mutters of dissevering power."[1127]Mr. P. A. Daniel would read 'iced.'[1128]Dy., 'Acts.'[1129]Below 'maide,' Sig. F.[1130]Dy. notes that this and the three following lines are taken almost verbatim from Greene'sOrlando Furioso.[1131]It is not necessary to adopt Mr. Daniel's emendation.[1132]Below 'Venelia,' Sig. F ii.[1133]Calypha.[1134]That is, all the actors of the play within the play. Below 'Omnes,' Sig. F iii.[1135]Q.,shuts.[1136]Part.

[1018]A mistake for Frolic.

[1019]Alamort, mortally sick; and then, dispirited.

[1020]"A gay, reckless fellow."

[1021]Below 'Neptune,' Sig. A iii.

[1022]B. refers to Ebbsworth,Roxburghe Ballads, IV. 365, 468. See also Nash,Four Letters Confuted(Grosart, II. 190), who says of Harvey's "barefoote rimes" that "they would have trowld off bravely to the tune ofO man in desperation, and, likeMarenzosMadrigals, the mourneful note naturally have affected the miserable Dittie."

[1023]Chappell gives the song inPopular Music of the Olden Time, p. 216.Three Merry Menis quoted inWestward Hoe, and in Barry'sRam Alley(sung by Smallshanks: see note, Hazlitt-Dodsley, X. 298), as well as inTwelfth Night; and it is parodied by the musical cook inThe Bloody Brother. Chappell is somewhat daring when he takes these words from theOld Wives' Taleas the original; lines 3 and 4 look like a parody.

[1024]Dy. points out the pun in 'wooden' (= mad).

[1025]Long wide breeches or trousers; Dy. SeeLooking-Glass for London and England, near end: "This right slop is my pantry, behold a manchet [Draws it out]" ...

[1026]A bit of nonsense like the talk of Macbeth's porter. The speech is a sort of parody on the appeal of wandering knights or travellers in romances, and Clunch, with his 'territories,' may take the place of enchanter, giant, or the like.

[1027]This use of the third person is common in dramas of the time. See Ward,Old English Drama, Select Plays, etc., Introd., p. xi., notes. So in Greene: "Which Brandamart (i.e.I)" ...; "For Sacripant must have Angelica." It served to identify the actor.

[1028]They are now supposed to be at the cottage.

[1029]For fear of ...

[1030]A crab-apple. The pulp was mixed with ale, 'lamb's wool.'

[1031]Collier gave Dyce the following quotation fromMartin's Month's Minde: "leaving the ancient game of England (Trumpe), where every coate and sute are sorted in their degree, are running toRuffe, where the greatest sorte of the sute carrieth away the game."

[1032]The familiarmotifof the contented peasant as entertainer of royalty or what not.

[1033]According to theJests(Bullen, II. 314), George Peele had no skill in music, and must have been a conspicuous exception; witness the well-known statement of Chappell,Popular Music, p. 98. The barber kept "lute or cittern" in his shop for the amusement of waiting customers; and England had been a land of song from Cædmon's time down. The "man in the street" was expected to know how to join in a part song. The rural song, such as they sing here, was a great favorite with the dramatists.

[1034]Chopcherry: "a game in which one tries to catch a suspended cherry with the teeth; bob-cherry." ... New Engl. Dict.

[1035]A version ofChilde Rowland?

[1036]Peele was probably of a Devonshire family.

[1037]A Dogberrian touch, evidently beloved by the pit, and a fine makeweight to those pompous experiments with word and phrase which delighted the serious playgoer.

[1038]Below 'extempore,' Sig. B.

[1039]SeeCritical Essayfor the folk-tales in question.

[1040]handsome.

[1041]'he' keeps (frequents, lives),i.e.the young man. Omission of subject is common in the ballads.

[1042]The conjurer.

[1043]See theCritical Essayfor this "play within the play."

[1044]The princes, of course, talk in metre when the "high style" is needed, but in familiar prose with Erestus (= "Senex"). The repetitions in this blank-verse are characteristic.

[1045]B. omits. Dy. proposes to omit 'faire.' Neither omission is necessary.

[1046]Reminds one of nursery tales with bits of rhyme,—thecante-fableof folk-lore.

[1047]So Milton's famous "grey hooded Even, Like a sad votarist in palmer's weed" ...

[1048]Below 'gold,' Sig. B ii.

[1049]Dy. assumes that "something ... has dropt out"; but this is not necessary. Erestus, who says below that he 'speaks in riddles,' knows the errand of the brothers, and asks the question abruptly. He plays the part of Merlin inChilde Rowland.

[1050]The spell is important, solemn, and is therefore repeated. No particular tale of The White Bear of England's Wood is known, but similar cases of transformation are plentiful.

[1051]Dy. prints ''chanting'; needlessly.

[1052]Below 'mend,' Sig. B iii.

[1053]B. notes that "St. Luke's Day (18th October) was the day of Horn Fair; and St. Luke was jocularly regarded as the patron saint of cuckolds. St. Andrew was supposed to bring good luck to lovers." ...

[1054]The reference is to the tale preserved in several versions, and known as "The Three Heads of the Well," Jacobs,English Fairy Tales, p. 222. "The Well of the World's End," p. 215, however, has the incident of filling a sieve.

[1055]So "God ye good night, and twenty, sir!" In Middleton'sTrick to Catch the Old One—"A thousand farewells." Compare the well-known forms of greeting, as "Grüss' mir mein Liebchen zehntausend mal!" or the elaborate message at the opening of the balladChilde Maurice.

[1056]See AppendixBon this Song.

[1057]See AppendixA.

[1058]The 'Booby' is later called 'Corebus' or 'Chorebus.' See Harvey,The Trimming of Thomas Nashe, Grosart, III. 29: "Thou mayest be cald the very Chorœbus of our time, of whom the proverbe was sayde, more foole than Chorœbus: who was a seely ideot, but yet had the name of a wise man." ...

[1059]Mr. Fleay thinks this is a pun upon that eternal theme of satire for Harvey's enemies, the rope-maker's trade of his father. "The name," Mr. Fleay says, "for the stock of Huanebango are adapted from Plautus, Polymachæroplacidus (fromPseudulus), Pyrgopolinices (fromMiles Gloriosus), in shapes which inevitably suggest English puns indicating Harvey's rope-making extraction, Polly-make-a-rope-lass, and Perg-up-a-line-O...." Mr. Fleay is bold.

[1060]A difficult passage. Dy. thinks the stock is a sword,—Corebus "has run away from the Parish, and become a sort of knight-errant." Dr. Nicholson: "He has started and they may catch" (if they can) and as a vagabond put him in the stocks. B. makes the clown plume himself on his finery. He points with pride to his feather; and he is equally proud of his fashionable "long stock" (i.e.the stocking fastened high above the knee). This gives better sense than the second explanation; Corebus asserts a sort of equality with Huanebango.

[1061]The successful guessing of riddles wins a bride, fortune, liberty, what not, in many a folk-tale.

[1062]Below 'the,' Sig. C.

[1063]EnterErestus.

[1064]care for.

[1065]plenty. Corebus quotes the stilted talk of Huanebango.

[1066]This gift of the cake reminds one of a similarmotifin the tale ofThe Red Ettin, Jacobs, p. 135.

[1067]though times are hard.

[1068]sings.

[1069]Below 'up,' Sig. C ii.

[1070]These tricks of magic are the staple of tales and chapbooks about conjurers, and make a braver showing in plays likeDoctor FaustusandFriar Bacon and Friar Bungay.See the latter play in this volume, and Mr. Ward's introduction to his edition of the two dramas.

[1071]Later editions omit. The formula is less uncanny than usual; but the two cocks have grim associations. The dark-red cock of Scandinavian myth belonged to the underworld. SeeThe Wife of Usher's Well, and R. Köhler in theGermania, XI. 85 ff.

[1072]The local hits are to be noted: praise for roast beef of England, wine of France, and girding at Spain, at brewers,—one thinks of Falstaff's complaint about the lime in his sack,—friars, and usurers.

[1073]Below 'begon,' Sig. C iii.

[1074]B. prints: 'heaven [n]or hell shall rescue her from me.'

[1075]Did this Echo suggest the song inComus?

[1076]The "Life-Index," so called, of popular tales, connected with the equally popularmotifof the "Thankful Dead."

[1077]Erestus.

[1078]Misprint for 'Corebus.'

[1079]Dogberry's distortion of words is about as old as English comedy.

[1080]Q.assure.

[1081]As above:—a gay, reckless fellow.

[1082]According to Sir Walter Scott "the very latest allusion to the institution of brotherhood in arms" is in the ballad ofBewick and Grahame, "sworn brethren" as they are, each "faith and troth" to the other.

[1083]That's settled once for all.—Bullen.

[1084]Recent editions make the Sexton's speech end here, and put the rest in the stage directions.

[1085]Below 'the,' Sig. D.

[1086]Open the argument from my side (with the aid of the pike-staff).—Bullen.

[1087]Recent eds. [Gives money].

[1088]on.

[1089]harvesters.

[1090]See AppendixB.

[1091]Below 'men,' Sig. D ii.

[1092]B. points out that Corebus enters a moment later.

[1093]"The 'fee-fi-fo-fum' formula is common to all English stories of giants and ogres; it also occurs in Peele's play and inKing Lear.... Messrs. Jones and Krorf have some remarks on it in their 'Magyar Tales,' pp. 340-341; so has Mr. Lang in his 'Perrault,' p. lxiii, where he traces it to the furies in Æschylus'Eumenides."—Jacobs,Eng. Fairy Tales, p. 243.

[1094]Recent eds.—EnterSacrapantthe Conjurer andTwo Furies.

[1095]Recent eds.—Huanebangois carried out by theTwo Furies.

[1096]Recent eds.—StrikesCorebusblind.

[1097]goad.

[1098]In this and like cases the editors restore a tolerable metre by different printing. Thus 'Here hard' may be taken as part of the preceding line.

[1099]Dr. Nicholson would read 'name' to no advantage. Sacrapant says she has forgotten her name, but has not forgotten as much as she ought to forget. The phrase is awkward, but is perhaps more "intelligible" than Mr. Bullen allows.

[1100]Below 'to,' Sig. D iii.

[1101]Dy. prints 'Well done!'

[1102]To the popular tale, here plainly drawn upon, Peele has added an amusing feature which seems to be his own invention. He provides the deaf Huanebango with a scolding wife, while the blind Corebus takes her ugly sister.

[1103]As much as "uncomely," "ugly," as shown by the countless passages in Elizabethan literature, and the connotation of the opposite, "fair." Dyce quotes the same phrase,—"though I am blacke, I am not the Divell ..." from Greene's,Quip for an Upstart Courtier.

[1104]In The Three Heads of the Well, "a golden head came up singing:—"'Wash me and comb me,And lay me down softly.And lay me on a bank to dry,That I may look prettyWhen somebody passes by.'"

[1104]In The Three Heads of the Well, "a golden head came up singing:—

"'Wash me and comb me,And lay me down softly.And lay me on a bank to dry,That I may look prettyWhen somebody passes by.'"

"'Wash me and comb me,

And lay me down softly.

And lay me on a bank to dry,

That I may look pretty

When somebody passes by.'"

[1105]Sc.beard.

[1106]The upshot of much investigation seems to be that the phrase to have cockell-bread means to get a lover or a husband.

[1107]So in Hartmann'sIwein, a knight pours water from a certain well upon a stone near by; a terrible thunderstorm is the immediate result. A similar act may bring the milder rain for one's crops (Grimm,Mythologie, p. 494).

[1108]Harvey had an indifferent ear for verse, and here, perhaps,—since the hexameters follow so hard upon,—is a neat way of stating the fact.

[1109]Both Stanyhurst and Harvey were favorites for this sort of ridicule. The hexameters of the former are described admirably by Nash, and, of course, are parodied here. Huff, Ruff, and Snuff were characters in the play ofKing Cambyses. Cf. too Harvey in "Green's Memoriall or certain funerall sonnets" (Son. vi):—"I wott not what these cutting Huffe-snuffes meane,Of alehouse daggers I have little skill...."

"I wott not what these cutting Huffe-snuffes meane,Of alehouse daggers I have little skill...."

"I wott not what these cutting Huffe-snuffes meane,

Of alehouse daggers I have little skill...."

[1110]Dy. points out that this is an actual line in Harvey'sEncomium Lauri.

[1111]Below 'rattle,' Sig. E.

[1112]Used by Chaucer to describe the "hunting of the letter," in his day still a normal rule of verse, particularly in the north of England (Prologue to the "Persone's Tale"):—"But trusteth wel, I am a suthern man,I can not geste rum, ram, ruf, by letter...."Professor Skeat (Notes to C.T., p. 446) thinks Peele has Chaucer in mind, and shows that the latter probably borrowed the words "from some French source."

[1112]Used by Chaucer to describe the "hunting of the letter," in his day still a normal rule of verse, particularly in the north of England (Prologue to the "Persone's Tale"):—

"But trusteth wel, I am a suthern man,I can not geste rum, ram, ruf, by letter...."

"But trusteth wel, I am a suthern man,

I can not geste rum, ram, ruf, by letter...."

Professor Skeat (Notes to C.T., p. 446) thinks Peele has Chaucer in mind, and shows that the latter probably borrowed the words "from some French source."

[1113]'Ka'=quoth he.—'Wilshaw'? [Qy.: Will ich ha(ve)?Cf.l. 648.Gen. Ed.]

[1114]Lob's pound, is B. notes, was a phrase of the day for "the thraldom of the hen-pecked married man."

[1115]It is hardly necessary to correct this into 'thy.'

[1116]As a ghost, of course.

[1117]Below 'runne,' Sig. E ii.

[1118]The "foot-page" of the ballads.

[1119]These rhyming scraps remind one constantly of thecante-fable, of the formula-jingles in popular tales.

[1120]Probably a misprint for 'come.'

[1121]Below 'pursse,' Sig. E iii.

[1122]Celanto.

[1123]He is blind.

[1124]In the tale there are three heads.

[1125]Dyce's copy read 'tost.' Mr. P. A. Daniel: "Qy.: 'Toast'?"

[1126]Milton,Comus, 817: "backward mutters of dissevering power."

[1127]Mr. P. A. Daniel would read 'iced.'

[1128]Dy., 'Acts.'

[1129]Below 'maide,' Sig. F.

[1130]Dy. notes that this and the three following lines are taken almost verbatim from Greene'sOrlando Furioso.

[1131]It is not necessary to adopt Mr. Daniel's emendation.

[1132]Below 'Venelia,' Sig. F ii.

[1133]Calypha.

[1134]That is, all the actors of the play within the play. Below 'Omnes,' Sig. F iii.

[1135]Q.,shuts.

[1136]Part.

A. Characters: their Sources.—T. Warton, in 1785 (Milton's Poems on Several Occasions), pointed out that "the names of some of the characters as Sacrapant, Chorebus, and others, are taken from theOrlando Furioso." Peele quotes Ariosto freely near the end ofEdward I. Storojenko (Grosart'sGreene, I, 180) thinks the Sacrapant in Greene'sOrlando Furioso"a very transparent parody ofTamburlaine." Mr. Fleay, with some daring, asserts that Huanebango is travestied from Huon o'Bordeaux, and is "palpably Harvey." Erestus, says the same authority, is from Kyd'sSoliman and Perseda; "the play is evidently full of personal allusions, which time only can elucidate." Mr. Ward remarks that Jack is "namesake and rival of the immortal giant-killer." The classics, of course, are represented. Warton remarked that the story of Meroe could be found in Adlington's translation of Apuleius, 1566; but it is hardly necessary to go to such a source for the "White Bear of England's Wood."

B. The Song of the Harvesters—When the harvest-men enter again, and sing the song "doubled,"—as here,—it is evidently the same thing, a companion piece, only with reaping in place of sowing, and words to match:—

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