Notes on the Text.Sir Patient Fancy.To the Readerp. 7, l. 1To the Reader.Only in 4to 1678.Dramatis Personæp. 10Dramatis Personæ.I have added ‘Abel(Bartholmew), Clerk toSir Patient Fancy;Brunswick, a friend toLodwick Knowell;Antic, Waiting-woman toLucretia; Nurse; Guests.’ In former editions the physicians are grouped together as ‘Five Doctors’, and The LadyKnowellis mistakenly termed ‘Mother toLodwickandIsabella’, which I have corrected to ‘andLucretia’. I have noted the confusion of ‘Abel’ and ‘Bartholmew’ intheintroduction, pp. 5-6.Act I: Scene ip. 11, l. 2I have added ‘in Lady Knowell’s House.’p.13,l. 14Foibles.4to 1678 ‘feables’.p. 14, l. 17apamibominous ... podas.4to 1678 ‘apamibominus ... Podis’.Ap. 15, l. 3Mudd.1724 ‘mad’.Act I: Scene iap. 16, l. 12now, Curry, from.1724 omits ‘Curry’.p. 16, l. 25Branford.1724 here andinfra‘Brentford’.p. 16, l. 30Cuffet’s.1724 ‘Cusset’s’.p. 22, l. 22not.Erroneously omitted by 4to 1678.p. 23, l. 2a Dog.4to 1678 ‘the Dog.’p. 23, l. 16with Page.I have added the Page’s exit.p. 25, l. 20Ex. severally.4to 1678 adds ‘The End of the First Act.’Act II: Scene ip. 25, l. 22to Sir Patient Fancy’s House.I have added these words.p. 33, l. 27Exit with L. Fan.I have added the necessary ‘with L. Fan.’ 4to 1678 reads ‘Goes out.’p. 35, l. 2Roger attending.I have added this entrance of Roger here.p. 36, l. 21Enter Sir Patient.4to 1678 gives this entrance after ‘mercy’, l. 22.p. 40, l. 25Exit Roger.I have added this exit here, and atp. 43, l. 2.Act II: Scene iip. 44, l. 6Exeunt severally.4to 1678 adds ‘The End of the Second Act.’Act III: Scene ip. 44, l. 9to a room in Sir Patient Fancy’s house.I have supplied this locale.p. 45, l. 11and Maundy.I have supplied Maundy’s entrance here.Act III: Scene iip. 47, l. 1a thousand Faults.1724 mistakenly reads ‘a thousand hidden Faults’.p. 48, l. 34in spite to.1724 ‘in spite of’ which makes nonsense of the passage.Act III: Scene iiip. 49, l. 8Scene III.I have numbered this and all the succeeding scenes of Act III.Act III: Scene viip. 53, l. 32Within.Not in any previous edition.p. 54, l. 10Within.All previous editions print this stage direction as part of Sir Patient’s speech.p. 54, l. 19Discovery.All previous editions here have ‘Enter Sir Patient’, which is a very patent error. I have supplied‘Within’as stage direction.p. 59, l. 6Isabella, Fanny.I have supplied ‘Fanny’ to this stage direction.p. 59, l. 19D’on.4to 1678 misprints ‘D’on on Flannel’.p. 60, l. 13Enter Roger.I have supplied the names ‘Roger’ and ‘Abel’ to this stage direction.p. 61, l. 13Exeunt.4to 1678 adds ‘The End of the Third Act.’Act IV: Scene ip. 71, l. 27are.4to 1678, not so well, ‘were’.Act IV: Scene iip. 72, l. 19A Chamber in Sir Patient Fancy’s House.I have supplied this locale.p. 77, l. 2come.4to 1678 ‘came’.p. 77, l. 33but for my sending him, Madam, credit me.1724 omits this sentence.p. 79, l. 13sad.1724 ‘said’.p. 79, l. 31Exit.I have supplied this stage direction.Act IV: Scene iiip. 81, l. 1Exit Roger.I have supplied this.p. 81, l. 11little.1724 misprints ‘letter’.p. 82, l. 30Fanny and Nurse go.All previous editions have ‘Fanny goes’.Act IV: Scene ivp. 82, l. 31Scene IV.I have numbered this scene.p. 82, l. 33Entering.I have supplied this necessary stage direction.p. 87, l. 15Hogsdowne.1724 ‘Hogsdon’.p. 89, l. 3leading her.Omitted in 1724. 4to 1678 here has ‘The End of the Fourth Act.’Act V: Scene ip. 89, l. 5Scene I. A Room.All previous editions have ‘Scene I. A Table and Six Chairs.’p. 89, l. 28come.4to 1678 ‘came’.p. 95, l. 20fatum.4to 1678 ‘facum.’p. 96, l. 2and will.1724, very erroneously, ‘and I will’.p. 98, l. 13and Bartholomew.I have added this entrance, unmarked in former editions, as later in the scene (p. 99, l. 30) he is addressed.p. 98, l.16Exit Roger.I have supplied this.p. 99, l. 35Exit.I have added this stage direction.p. 100, l. 4Exit Lod.This is unmarked in previous editions.p. 100, l. 25Medicinæ Professores.1724 ‘Medicina Presessores, qui hic assemblati esti, & vos altra Mesioris’.Critical Notep. 101, l. 12Deliberation.4to 1678 here has ‘[Goes out.’ which must obviously be a mistake.p. 102, l. 2Whirligigoustiphon.1724 ‘Whirligigousticon’.p. 107, l. 36Exeunt Doctors.All previous editions faultily have ‘Exeunt.’ after ‘whole Family.—’ I have added ‘Doctors.’p. 108, l. 27and Nurse.I have added these words as she is addressed later in the scene (p. 109, l. 31.)p. 110, l. 24and Sir Cred.I have added these words.p. 111, l. 34Consort.1724 ‘Comfort’.Notes: Critical And Explanatory.Sir Patient Fancy.To the Readerp. 7to show their breeding (as Bays sayes).cf.The Rehearsal, ii,II:—1King.You must begin,Mon foy.2King.Sweet, Sir,Pardonnes moy.Bayes.Mark that: I makes ’em both speakFrenchto shew their breeding.Act I: Scene ip. 14Armida.cf. Tasso’sLa Gerusalemme Liberata, canto xiv, &c. Armida is called Corcereis owing to the beauty and wonder of her enchanted garden. Corcyra was the abode of King Alcinous, of whose court, parks and orchards a famous description is to be found in the seventhOdyssey. Martial (xiii, 37), speaks of ‘Corcyraei horti’, a proverbial phrase.Act I: Scene iap. 20Mum budget.‘Mum budget’, meaning ‘hush’, was originally the name of a children’s game which required silence, cf.Merry Wives of Windsor, v,IV: ‘I ... criedmumand she criedbudget.’ cf. also the term ‘Whist’.p. 22Beginning at Eight.The idea of this little speech is, of course, from Bonnecorse’sLa Montre, Mrs. Behn’s translation of which will be found with an introduction in Vol. VI, p. 1.p. 22the Bergere.cf.The Feign’d Curtezans(Vol. II, p. 346): ‘The hour of the Berjere’; and the note on that passage (p. 441).Cross-Reference:The Feign’d CurtezansAct II: Scene ip. 32Ay and No Man.cf. Prologue toThe False Count(Vol. III, p. 100): ‘By Yea and Nay’; and note on that passage (p. 480).Cross-Reference:The False CountAct III: Scene ip. 44Within a Mile of an Oak.A proverbial saw. cf. D’Urfey’sDon Quixote(1696), III, Act v,I, where Teresa cries: ‘The Ass was lost yesterday, and MasterCarascotells us your Worship can tell within a mile of an Oak where he is.’p. 44Rustick Antick.A quaint country dance.Act IV: Scene ip. 62Hypallages.A figure of speech by which attributes are transferred from their proper subjects to others.p. 62Belli fugaces.Ovid,Amorum, I, 9, has ‘Militat omnis amans et habet sua castra Cupido’, and the idea is common. I have made no attempt to correct the tags of Latinity in this play. Mrs. Behn openly confessed she knew no Latin, and she was ill supplied here. I do not conceive that the words are intentionally faulty and grotesque. Lady Knowell is a pedant, but not ignorant.p. 65MadameBrenvilliers.Marie-Marguerite d’Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers, was executed at Paris 16 July, 1676.p. 66Bilbo-Blades!Or oftener ‘bilbo-lords’, = swash-bucklers, cf.The Pilgrim(folio, 1647), v,VI, where Juletta calls the old angry Alphonso ‘My Bilbo Master’.p. 70whip slap-dash.These nonsensical bywords, which were very popular, are continually in the mouth of Sir Samuel Harty, a silly coxcomb inShadwell’sThe Virtuoso(1676). Nokes, who was acting Sir Credulous, had created Sir Samuel Harty.p. 71The Bell in Friday-street.The Bell was an inn of note in Friday Street, Cheapside. cf.Cal. State Papers(1603-10, p. 455): ‘Sir Thomas Estcourt ... to Thomas Wilson. Is about to leave London and proffers his services. If he has occasion to write to him he may have weekly messengers ... at the Bell, Friday Street.’Act IV: Scene ip. 79th’ Exercise.The puritanical term for private worship, cf. 1663Flagellum; or, O. Cromwell(1672), 21. ‘The Family was called together to prayers; at which Exercise ... they continued long.’ cf.The Roundheads(Vol. I), Act ii,I: ‘his Prayers; from which long-winded Exercise I have of late withdrawn my self.’Act IV: Scene ivp. 83Mirabilis.Aqua mirabilis, a well-known invigorating cordial, cf. Dryden’sMarriage à la Mode(1672), iii,I: ‘The country gentlewoman ... who ... opens her dear bottle of Mirabilis beside, for a gill glass of it at parting.’p. 84Tranghams.Nick-nacks, toys, trinkets, cf. Arbuthnot,History of John Ball(1712-3), Pt.II, c. vi: ‘What’s the meaning of all these trangrams and gimcracks?’Act V: Scene ip. 92to souse.cf.Florio(ed. 1611): ‘to leape or seaze greedily upon, to souze downe as a hauke.’p. 93this Balatroon.A rogue. The word is very rare. cf. Cockeram (1623): ‘Ballatron, a rascally base knave.’p. 95Rotat omne fatum.This would be an exceptionally rare use of rotare = rotari, intransitive. But Mrs. Behn, as Dryden tells us in his preface to the translation of Ovid’sHeroides(1680) ‘by many hands’, insisted upon the fact that she knew no Latin.p. 100Medicinæ Professores.This is from theTroisième IntermèdeofLe Malade Imaginairewhich commences:—Savantissimi doctores,Medicinæ professores,Qui hic assemblati estis;Et vos, altri messiores,Sententiarum facultatis.Text Notep. 101Vanderbergen.A well-known empiric of the day.p. 102Haly the Moore, and Rabbi Isaac.Ali Bey (Bobrowski), a Polish scholar, died at Constantinople 1675. He wrote, amongst other treatises,De Circumcisione;De Aegrotorum Visitatione. These were published at Oxford in 1691. Isaac Levita or Jean Isaac Levi was a celebrated rabbi of the sixteenth century. A professor at Cologne, he practised medicine and astrology.p. 104Stetin.Stettin, the capital of Pomerania, was one of the chief towns of the Hanseatic league. Occupied by Sweden 1637-1713, it was the centre of continual military operations.p. 105A Dutch Butter-ferkin, a Kilderkin.These terms are common abuse as applied to a corpulent person. A firkin (Mid. Dut., vierdekijn) = a small cask for holding liquids or butter; originally half-a-kilderkin.Dictionary of the Canting Crew(1700) has ‘Firkin of foul Stuff; a ... Coarse, Corpulent Woman’. cf. Dryden’sMac Flecknoe(1682):—A Tun of Man in thy large Bulk is writ,But sure thou’rt but a Kilderkin of wit.Shadwell was extremely gross in habit and of an unwieldy size.p. 105Toping and Napping.‘To top’ and ‘to nap’ are slang terms signifying to cheat, especially with dice. cf. R. Head,Canting Academy(1673), ‘What chance of the dye is soonest thrown in topping, shoring, palming, napping.’ Both words occur very frequently, and are amply explained in the Slang Dictionaries.p. 105Cater-Tray.Quatre-trois; a cast at dice.p. 112Good morrow.Wittmore quotes the opening lines ofVolpone, Act i,I:Good morning to the day; and next my gold!Open the shrine that I may see my saint.Hail the world’s soul and mine!p. 115John-a-Nokes.The fictitious name for the one party in a legal action. The term came to have the same meaning as ‘Jack-hold-my-staff’ = any fool or nincompoop.Epiloguep. 116Vizard Mask.The commonest Restoration synonym for a ‘bona roba’, especially as plying the theatre.
To the Reader
p. 7, l. 1To the Reader.Only in 4to 1678.
Dramatis Personæ
p. 10Dramatis Personæ.I have added ‘Abel(Bartholmew), Clerk toSir Patient Fancy;Brunswick, a friend toLodwick Knowell;Antic, Waiting-woman toLucretia; Nurse; Guests.’ In former editions the physicians are grouped together as ‘Five Doctors’, and The LadyKnowellis mistakenly termed ‘Mother toLodwickandIsabella’, which I have corrected to ‘andLucretia’. I have noted the confusion of ‘Abel’ and ‘Bartholmew’ intheintroduction, pp. 5-6.
Act I: Scene i
p. 11, l. 2I have added ‘in Lady Knowell’s House.’
p.13,l. 14Foibles.4to 1678 ‘feables’.
p. 14, l. 17apamibominous ... podas.4to 1678 ‘apamibominus ... Podis’.A
p. 15, l. 3Mudd.1724 ‘mad’.
Act I: Scene ia
p. 16, l. 12now, Curry, from.1724 omits ‘Curry’.
p. 16, l. 25Branford.1724 here andinfra‘Brentford’.
p. 16, l. 30Cuffet’s.1724 ‘Cusset’s’.
p. 22, l. 22not.Erroneously omitted by 4to 1678.
p. 23, l. 2a Dog.4to 1678 ‘the Dog.’
p. 23, l. 16with Page.I have added the Page’s exit.
p. 25, l. 20Ex. severally.4to 1678 adds ‘The End of the First Act.’
Act II: Scene i
p. 25, l. 22to Sir Patient Fancy’s House.I have added these words.
p. 33, l. 27Exit with L. Fan.I have added the necessary ‘with L. Fan.’ 4to 1678 reads ‘Goes out.’
p. 35, l. 2Roger attending.I have added this entrance of Roger here.
p. 36, l. 21Enter Sir Patient.4to 1678 gives this entrance after ‘mercy’, l. 22.
p. 40, l. 25Exit Roger.I have added this exit here, and atp. 43, l. 2.
Act II: Scene ii
p. 44, l. 6Exeunt severally.4to 1678 adds ‘The End of the Second Act.’
Act III: Scene i
p. 44, l. 9to a room in Sir Patient Fancy’s house.I have supplied this locale.
p. 45, l. 11and Maundy.I have supplied Maundy’s entrance here.
Act III: Scene ii
p. 47, l. 1a thousand Faults.1724 mistakenly reads ‘a thousand hidden Faults’.
p. 48, l. 34in spite to.1724 ‘in spite of’ which makes nonsense of the passage.
Act III: Scene iii
p. 49, l. 8Scene III.I have numbered this and all the succeeding scenes of Act III.
Act III: Scene vii
p. 53, l. 32Within.Not in any previous edition.
p. 54, l. 10Within.All previous editions print this stage direction as part of Sir Patient’s speech.
p. 54, l. 19Discovery.All previous editions here have ‘Enter Sir Patient’, which is a very patent error. I have supplied‘Within’as stage direction.
p. 59, l. 6Isabella, Fanny.I have supplied ‘Fanny’ to this stage direction.
p. 59, l. 19D’on.4to 1678 misprints ‘D’on on Flannel’.
p. 60, l. 13Enter Roger.I have supplied the names ‘Roger’ and ‘Abel’ to this stage direction.
p. 61, l. 13Exeunt.4to 1678 adds ‘The End of the Third Act.’
Act IV: Scene i
p. 71, l. 27are.4to 1678, not so well, ‘were’.
Act IV: Scene ii
p. 72, l. 19A Chamber in Sir Patient Fancy’s House.I have supplied this locale.
p. 77, l. 2come.4to 1678 ‘came’.
p. 77, l. 33but for my sending him, Madam, credit me.1724 omits this sentence.
p. 79, l. 13sad.1724 ‘said’.
p. 79, l. 31Exit.I have supplied this stage direction.
Act IV: Scene iii
p. 81, l. 1Exit Roger.I have supplied this.
p. 81, l. 11little.1724 misprints ‘letter’.
p. 82, l. 30Fanny and Nurse go.All previous editions have ‘Fanny goes’.
Act IV: Scene iv
p. 82, l. 31Scene IV.I have numbered this scene.
p. 82, l. 33Entering.I have supplied this necessary stage direction.
p. 87, l. 15Hogsdowne.1724 ‘Hogsdon’.
p. 89, l. 3leading her.Omitted in 1724. 4to 1678 here has ‘The End of the Fourth Act.’
Act V: Scene i
p. 89, l. 5Scene I. A Room.All previous editions have ‘Scene I. A Table and Six Chairs.’
p. 89, l. 28come.4to 1678 ‘came’.
p. 95, l. 20fatum.4to 1678 ‘facum.’
p. 96, l. 2and will.1724, very erroneously, ‘and I will’.
p. 98, l. 13and Bartholomew.I have added this entrance, unmarked in former editions, as later in the scene (p. 99, l. 30) he is addressed.
p. 98, l.16Exit Roger.I have supplied this.
p. 99, l. 35Exit.I have added this stage direction.
p. 100, l. 4Exit Lod.This is unmarked in previous editions.
p. 100, l. 25Medicinæ Professores.1724 ‘Medicina Presessores, qui hic assemblati esti, & vos altra Mesioris’.Critical Note
p. 101, l. 12Deliberation.4to 1678 here has ‘[Goes out.’ which must obviously be a mistake.
p. 102, l. 2Whirligigoustiphon.1724 ‘Whirligigousticon’.
p. 107, l. 36Exeunt Doctors.All previous editions faultily have ‘Exeunt.’ after ‘whole Family.—’ I have added ‘Doctors.’
p. 108, l. 27and Nurse.I have added these words as she is addressed later in the scene (p. 109, l. 31.)
p. 110, l. 24and Sir Cred.I have added these words.
p. 111, l. 34Consort.1724 ‘Comfort’.
To the Reader
p. 7to show their breeding (as Bays sayes).cf.The Rehearsal, ii,II:—
1King.You must begin,Mon foy.2King.Sweet, Sir,Pardonnes moy.Bayes.Mark that: I makes ’em both speakFrenchto shew their breeding.
1King.You must begin,Mon foy.
2King.Sweet, Sir,Pardonnes moy.
Bayes.Mark that: I makes ’em both speakFrenchto shew their breeding.
Act I: Scene i
p. 14Armida.cf. Tasso’sLa Gerusalemme Liberata, canto xiv, &c. Armida is called Corcereis owing to the beauty and wonder of her enchanted garden. Corcyra was the abode of King Alcinous, of whose court, parks and orchards a famous description is to be found in the seventhOdyssey. Martial (xiii, 37), speaks of ‘Corcyraei horti’, a proverbial phrase.
Act I: Scene ia
p. 20Mum budget.‘Mum budget’, meaning ‘hush’, was originally the name of a children’s game which required silence, cf.Merry Wives of Windsor, v,IV: ‘I ... criedmumand she criedbudget.’ cf. also the term ‘Whist’.
p. 22Beginning at Eight.The idea of this little speech is, of course, from Bonnecorse’sLa Montre, Mrs. Behn’s translation of which will be found with an introduction in Vol. VI, p. 1.
p. 22the Bergere.cf.The Feign’d Curtezans(Vol. II, p. 346): ‘The hour of the Berjere’; and the note on that passage (p. 441).Cross-Reference:The Feign’d Curtezans
Act II: Scene i
p. 32Ay and No Man.cf. Prologue toThe False Count(Vol. III, p. 100): ‘By Yea and Nay’; and note on that passage (p. 480).Cross-Reference:The False Count
Act III: Scene i
p. 44Within a Mile of an Oak.A proverbial saw. cf. D’Urfey’sDon Quixote(1696), III, Act v,I, where Teresa cries: ‘The Ass was lost yesterday, and MasterCarascotells us your Worship can tell within a mile of an Oak where he is.’
p. 44Rustick Antick.A quaint country dance.
Act IV: Scene i
p. 62Hypallages.A figure of speech by which attributes are transferred from their proper subjects to others.
p. 62Belli fugaces.Ovid,Amorum, I, 9, has ‘Militat omnis amans et habet sua castra Cupido’, and the idea is common. I have made no attempt to correct the tags of Latinity in this play. Mrs. Behn openly confessed she knew no Latin, and she was ill supplied here. I do not conceive that the words are intentionally faulty and grotesque. Lady Knowell is a pedant, but not ignorant.
p. 65MadameBrenvilliers.Marie-Marguerite d’Aubray, Marquise de Brinvilliers, was executed at Paris 16 July, 1676.
p. 66Bilbo-Blades!Or oftener ‘bilbo-lords’, = swash-bucklers, cf.The Pilgrim(folio, 1647), v,VI, where Juletta calls the old angry Alphonso ‘My Bilbo Master’.
p. 70whip slap-dash.These nonsensical bywords, which were very popular, are continually in the mouth of Sir Samuel Harty, a silly coxcomb inShadwell’sThe Virtuoso(1676). Nokes, who was acting Sir Credulous, had created Sir Samuel Harty.
p. 71The Bell in Friday-street.The Bell was an inn of note in Friday Street, Cheapside. cf.Cal. State Papers(1603-10, p. 455): ‘Sir Thomas Estcourt ... to Thomas Wilson. Is about to leave London and proffers his services. If he has occasion to write to him he may have weekly messengers ... at the Bell, Friday Street.’
Act IV: Scene i
p. 79th’ Exercise.The puritanical term for private worship, cf. 1663Flagellum; or, O. Cromwell(1672), 21. ‘The Family was called together to prayers; at which Exercise ... they continued long.’ cf.The Roundheads(Vol. I), Act ii,I: ‘his Prayers; from which long-winded Exercise I have of late withdrawn my self.’
Act IV: Scene iv
p. 83Mirabilis.Aqua mirabilis, a well-known invigorating cordial, cf. Dryden’sMarriage à la Mode(1672), iii,I: ‘The country gentlewoman ... who ... opens her dear bottle of Mirabilis beside, for a gill glass of it at parting.’
p. 84Tranghams.Nick-nacks, toys, trinkets, cf. Arbuthnot,History of John Ball(1712-3), Pt.II, c. vi: ‘What’s the meaning of all these trangrams and gimcracks?’
Act V: Scene i
p. 92to souse.cf.Florio(ed. 1611): ‘to leape or seaze greedily upon, to souze downe as a hauke.’
p. 93this Balatroon.A rogue. The word is very rare. cf. Cockeram (1623): ‘Ballatron, a rascally base knave.’
p. 95Rotat omne fatum.This would be an exceptionally rare use of rotare = rotari, intransitive. But Mrs. Behn, as Dryden tells us in his preface to the translation of Ovid’sHeroides(1680) ‘by many hands’, insisted upon the fact that she knew no Latin.
p. 100Medicinæ Professores.This is from theTroisième IntermèdeofLe Malade Imaginairewhich commences:—
Savantissimi doctores,Medicinæ professores,Qui hic assemblati estis;Et vos, altri messiores,Sententiarum facultatis.Text Note
Savantissimi doctores,
Medicinæ professores,
Qui hic assemblati estis;
Et vos, altri messiores,
Sententiarum facultatis.Text Note
p. 101Vanderbergen.A well-known empiric of the day.
p. 102Haly the Moore, and Rabbi Isaac.Ali Bey (Bobrowski), a Polish scholar, died at Constantinople 1675. He wrote, amongst other treatises,De Circumcisione;De Aegrotorum Visitatione. These were published at Oxford in 1691. Isaac Levita or Jean Isaac Levi was a celebrated rabbi of the sixteenth century. A professor at Cologne, he practised medicine and astrology.
p. 104Stetin.Stettin, the capital of Pomerania, was one of the chief towns of the Hanseatic league. Occupied by Sweden 1637-1713, it was the centre of continual military operations.
p. 105A Dutch Butter-ferkin, a Kilderkin.These terms are common abuse as applied to a corpulent person. A firkin (Mid. Dut., vierdekijn) = a small cask for holding liquids or butter; originally half-a-kilderkin.Dictionary of the Canting Crew(1700) has ‘Firkin of foul Stuff; a ... Coarse, Corpulent Woman’. cf. Dryden’sMac Flecknoe(1682):—
A Tun of Man in thy large Bulk is writ,But sure thou’rt but a Kilderkin of wit.
A Tun of Man in thy large Bulk is writ,
But sure thou’rt but a Kilderkin of wit.
Shadwell was extremely gross in habit and of an unwieldy size.
p. 105Toping and Napping.‘To top’ and ‘to nap’ are slang terms signifying to cheat, especially with dice. cf. R. Head,Canting Academy(1673), ‘What chance of the dye is soonest thrown in topping, shoring, palming, napping.’ Both words occur very frequently, and are amply explained in the Slang Dictionaries.
p. 105Cater-Tray.Quatre-trois; a cast at dice.
p. 112Good morrow.Wittmore quotes the opening lines ofVolpone, Act i,I:
Good morning to the day; and next my gold!Open the shrine that I may see my saint.Hail the world’s soul and mine!
Good morning to the day; and next my gold!
Open the shrine that I may see my saint.
Hail the world’s soul and mine!
p. 115John-a-Nokes.The fictitious name for the one party in a legal action. The term came to have the same meaning as ‘Jack-hold-my-staff’ = any fool or nincompoop.
Epilogue
p. 116Vizard Mask.The commonest Restoration synonym for a ‘bona roba’, especially as plying the theatre.
Cross-ReferencesNote to p. 22:the Bergere.Feign’d Curtezansnote:The hour of the Berjere. L’heure du berger ou l’amant trouve celle qu’il aime favorable à ses voeux. cf. La Fontaine,Contes. La Coupe Enchantée. ‘Il y fait bon, l’heure du berger sonne.’ It is a favourite expression of Mrs. Behn. cf.Sir Patient Fancy, Act i,I. ‘From Ten to Twelve are the happy hours of the Bergere, those of intire enjoyment.’ Also the charming conclusion ofThe Lover’s Watch:—Damon, my watch is just and new:And all a Lover ought to do,My Cupid faithfully will show.And ev’ry hour he renders thereExceptl’heure du Bergère.Note to p. 32:Ay and No Man.False Countnote:By Yea and Nay. ‘Yea and Nay’ was often derisively applied to the Puritans, and hence to their lineal descendants the Whigs, in allusion to the Scriptural injunction,S. Matthewv, 33-7, which they feigned exactly to follow. Timothy Thin-beard, a rascally Puritan, in Heywood’sIf you Know Not Me, You Know Nobody, Part II (4to, 1606), is continually asseverating ‘By yea and nay’, cf. Fletcher’sMonsieur Thomas, Act ii,III, where Thomas says:—Do not ye see me alter’d? ‘Yea and Nay,’ gentlemen;A much-converted man.Transcriber’s FootnoteA.“Ton d’ apamibominous prosiphe podas ochus Achilleus”τὸν δ᾽ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πόδας ὠκὺς ἈχιλλεύςTon d’ apameibomenos prosephê podas ôkus AchilleusEach element (“Ton ... prosephê” and “podas ôkus Achilleus”) is used several dozen times in theIliad; the complete line occurs at least ten times.THE AMOROUS PRINCE.Argument.Source.Theatrical History.Prologue.Dramatis Personæ.Act I.Scene I.The Chamber of Cloris.Scene II.A Grove.Scene III.The Apartment of Antonio.Scene IV.The Same.Act II.Scene I.The Apartment of Frederick.Scene II.Antonio’s House.Scene III.The Street.Scene IV.Antonio’s House.Scene V.A Chamber in Alberto’s House.Act III.Scene I.A Room in Salvator’s House.Scene II.A Street.Scene III.A Wood.Act IV.Scene I.Antonio’s House.Scene II.A Street.Scene III.Frederick’s Chamber.Scene IV.A Street.Scene V.Antonio’s House.Act V.Scene I.Laura’s Chamber.Scene II.A Grove.Scene III.The Lodgings of Curtius.Epilogue.Notes toThe Amorous Prince
Note to p. 22:the Bergere.
Feign’d Curtezansnote:
The hour of the Berjere. L’heure du berger ou l’amant trouve celle qu’il aime favorable à ses voeux. cf. La Fontaine,Contes. La Coupe Enchantée. ‘Il y fait bon, l’heure du berger sonne.’ It is a favourite expression of Mrs. Behn. cf.Sir Patient Fancy, Act i,I. ‘From Ten to Twelve are the happy hours of the Bergere, those of intire enjoyment.’ Also the charming conclusion ofThe Lover’s Watch:—
Damon, my watch is just and new:And all a Lover ought to do,My Cupid faithfully will show.And ev’ry hour he renders thereExceptl’heure du Bergère.
Damon, my watch is just and new:
And all a Lover ought to do,
My Cupid faithfully will show.
And ev’ry hour he renders there
Exceptl’heure du Bergère.
Note to p. 32:Ay and No Man.
False Countnote:
By Yea and Nay. ‘Yea and Nay’ was often derisively applied to the Puritans, and hence to their lineal descendants the Whigs, in allusion to the Scriptural injunction,S. Matthewv, 33-7, which they feigned exactly to follow. Timothy Thin-beard, a rascally Puritan, in Heywood’sIf you Know Not Me, You Know Nobody, Part II (4to, 1606), is continually asseverating ‘By yea and nay’, cf. Fletcher’sMonsieur Thomas, Act ii,III, where Thomas says:—
Do not ye see me alter’d? ‘Yea and Nay,’ gentlemen;A much-converted man.
Do not ye see me alter’d? ‘Yea and Nay,’ gentlemen;
A much-converted man.
A.“Ton d’ apamibominous prosiphe podas ochus Achilleus”
τὸν δ᾽ ἀπαμειβόμενος προσέφη πόδας ὠκὺς ἈχιλλεύςTon d’ apameibomenos prosephê podas ôkus Achilleus
Each element (“Ton ... prosephê” and “podas ôkus Achilleus”) is used several dozen times in theIliad; the complete line occurs at least ten times.
Argument.
Source.
Theatrical History.
Prologue.
Dramatis Personæ.
Act I.
Scene I.The Chamber of Cloris.
Scene II.A Grove.
Scene III.The Apartment of Antonio.
Scene IV.The Same.
Act II.
Scene I.The Apartment of Frederick.
Scene II.Antonio’s House.
Scene III.The Street.
Scene IV.Antonio’s House.
Scene V.A Chamber in Alberto’s House.
Act III.
Scene I.A Room in Salvator’s House.
Scene II.A Street.
Scene III.A Wood.
Act IV.
Scene I.Antonio’s House.
Scene II.A Street.
Scene III.Frederick’s Chamber.
Scene IV.A Street.
Scene V.Antonio’s House.
Act V.
Scene I.Laura’s Chamber.
Scene II.A Grove.
Scene III.The Lodgings of Curtius.
Epilogue.
Notes toThe Amorous Prince
ARGUMENT.Frederick, ‘the Amorous Prince,’ a mercurial young gallant, son to the Duke of Florence, under a solemn promise of marriage debauches Cloris, sister to his friend and confidant, Curtius. The girl has always led a secluded country life, and this relationship is unknown to the Prince, who upon hearing the praises of Laura, beloved by Curtius, straightway resolves to win this lady also. Laura’s brother Lorenzo, a wanton madcap favourite of Frederick’s, gladly effects the required introduction, and when Curtius interrupts and forbids, Salvator, father to Laura and Lorenzo, promptly turns the quondam lover out of the house. Lorenzo himself is idly pursuing Clarina, wife to a certain Antonio, an abortive intrigue carried on to his own impoverishment, but the enrichment of Isabella, Clarina’s woman, a wench who fleeces him unmercifully. Antonio being of a quaint and jealous humour would have his friend Alberto make fervent love to Clarina, in order that by her refusals and chill denials her spotless conjugal fidelity may be proved. However, Ismena, Clarina’s sister, appears in a change of clothes as the wife, and manifold complications ensue, but eventually all is cleared and Ismena accepts Alberto, whom she has long loved; not before Isabella, having by a trick compelled Lorenzo to declare himself her husband, enforces the bargain. Cloris, meanwhile, disguised as a boy under the name of Philibert, attaches herself to Frederick, first succouring him when he is wounded in a duel by Curtius. Curtius to avenge his wrongs disguises himself, and as a pandar entices Frederick into a snare by promises of supplying the amorous Prince with lovely cyprians. Bravos, however, are in waiting, but these prove to be in the service of Antonio, who appears with Alberto and their friends, completely frustrating the plot, whilst Clarina, Ismena, and other ladies have acted the courtezans to deceive Curtius, and at the same time read the Prince a salutary lesson. He profits so much by this experience that he takes Cloris, whose sex is discovered, to be his bride, whilst Laura bestows her hand on the repentant and forgiven Curtius.SOURCE.Mrs. Behnhas taken her episode of Antonio’s persuading Alberto to woo Clarina from Robert Davenport’s fine play,The City Night-Cap(4to 1661, but licensed 24 October, 1624) where Lorenzo induces Philippo to test Abstemia in the same way. Astrea, however, has considerably altered the conduct of the intrigue. Bullen (The Works of Robert Davenport, 1890) conclusively and exhaustively demonstrates that Davenport made use of Greene’s popularPhilomela; the Lady Fitzwater’s Nightingale(1592, 1615, and 1631), wherein Count Philippo employs Giovanni Lutesio to ‘make experience of his wife’s [Philomela’s] honesty’, rather than was underany obligation to Cervantes’Curioso Impertinente, Don Quixote, Book IV, ch. vi-viii. Read, Dunlop, and Hazlitt all had express’d the same opinion. The Spanish tale turns upon the fact of Anselmo, the Curious Impertinent, enforcing his friend Lothario to tempt his wife Camilla. Such a theme, however, is common, and with variations is to be found in Italian novelle. Recent authorities are inclined to suggest that the plot of Beaumont and Fletcher’sThe Coxcomb(1610), much of which runs on similar lines, is not founded on Cervantes. Southerne, in his comedy,The Disappointment; or, The Mother in Fashion(1684) and ‘starch Johnny Crowne’ inThe Married Beau(1694), both comedies of no little wit and merit, are patently indebted toThe Curious Impertinent. Cervantes had also been used three quarters of a century before by Nat Field in hisAmends for Ladies(4to, 1618), where Sir John Loveall tries his wife in an exactly similar manner to Lorenzo, Count Philippo and Anselmo.The amours of the Florentine court are Mrs. Behn’s own invention; but the device by which Curtius ensnares Frederick is not unlike Vendice and Hippolito’s trapping of the lecherous old Duke inThe Revenger’s Tragedy(4to, 1607), albeit the saturnine Tourneur gives the whole scene a far more terrible and tragic catastrophe.In January, 1537, Lorenzino de Medici having enticed Duke Alessandro of Florence to his house under pretext of an assignation with a certain Caterina Ginori, after a terrible struggle assassinated him with the aid of a notorious bravo. Several plays have been founded upon this history. Notable amongst them are Shirley’s admirable tragedy,The Traitor(licensed May, 1631, 4to 1635) and in later days de Musset’sLorenzaccio(1834).The Mask in Act v ofThe Amorous Princeis in its purport most palpably akin to the Elizabethans.THEATRICAL HISTORY.The Amorous Princewas produced by the Duke’s Company in the spring of 1671 at their Lincoln’s Inn Fields theatre, whence they migrated in November of the same year to the magnificent new house in Dorset Garden. No performers’ names are given to the comedy, which met with a very good reception. It seems to have kept the boards awhile, but there is no record of any particular revival.
Frederick, ‘the Amorous Prince,’ a mercurial young gallant, son to the Duke of Florence, under a solemn promise of marriage debauches Cloris, sister to his friend and confidant, Curtius. The girl has always led a secluded country life, and this relationship is unknown to the Prince, who upon hearing the praises of Laura, beloved by Curtius, straightway resolves to win this lady also. Laura’s brother Lorenzo, a wanton madcap favourite of Frederick’s, gladly effects the required introduction, and when Curtius interrupts and forbids, Salvator, father to Laura and Lorenzo, promptly turns the quondam lover out of the house. Lorenzo himself is idly pursuing Clarina, wife to a certain Antonio, an abortive intrigue carried on to his own impoverishment, but the enrichment of Isabella, Clarina’s woman, a wench who fleeces him unmercifully. Antonio being of a quaint and jealous humour would have his friend Alberto make fervent love to Clarina, in order that by her refusals and chill denials her spotless conjugal fidelity may be proved. However, Ismena, Clarina’s sister, appears in a change of clothes as the wife, and manifold complications ensue, but eventually all is cleared and Ismena accepts Alberto, whom she has long loved; not before Isabella, having by a trick compelled Lorenzo to declare himself her husband, enforces the bargain. Cloris, meanwhile, disguised as a boy under the name of Philibert, attaches herself to Frederick, first succouring him when he is wounded in a duel by Curtius. Curtius to avenge his wrongs disguises himself, and as a pandar entices Frederick into a snare by promises of supplying the amorous Prince with lovely cyprians. Bravos, however, are in waiting, but these prove to be in the service of Antonio, who appears with Alberto and their friends, completely frustrating the plot, whilst Clarina, Ismena, and other ladies have acted the courtezans to deceive Curtius, and at the same time read the Prince a salutary lesson. He profits so much by this experience that he takes Cloris, whose sex is discovered, to be his bride, whilst Laura bestows her hand on the repentant and forgiven Curtius.
Mrs. Behnhas taken her episode of Antonio’s persuading Alberto to woo Clarina from Robert Davenport’s fine play,The City Night-Cap(4to 1661, but licensed 24 October, 1624) where Lorenzo induces Philippo to test Abstemia in the same way. Astrea, however, has considerably altered the conduct of the intrigue. Bullen (The Works of Robert Davenport, 1890) conclusively and exhaustively demonstrates that Davenport made use of Greene’s popularPhilomela; the Lady Fitzwater’s Nightingale(1592, 1615, and 1631), wherein Count Philippo employs Giovanni Lutesio to ‘make experience of his wife’s [Philomela’s] honesty’, rather than was underany obligation to Cervantes’Curioso Impertinente, Don Quixote, Book IV, ch. vi-viii. Read, Dunlop, and Hazlitt all had express’d the same opinion. The Spanish tale turns upon the fact of Anselmo, the Curious Impertinent, enforcing his friend Lothario to tempt his wife Camilla. Such a theme, however, is common, and with variations is to be found in Italian novelle. Recent authorities are inclined to suggest that the plot of Beaumont and Fletcher’sThe Coxcomb(1610), much of which runs on similar lines, is not founded on Cervantes. Southerne, in his comedy,The Disappointment; or, The Mother in Fashion(1684) and ‘starch Johnny Crowne’ inThe Married Beau(1694), both comedies of no little wit and merit, are patently indebted toThe Curious Impertinent. Cervantes had also been used three quarters of a century before by Nat Field in hisAmends for Ladies(4to, 1618), where Sir John Loveall tries his wife in an exactly similar manner to Lorenzo, Count Philippo and Anselmo.
The amours of the Florentine court are Mrs. Behn’s own invention; but the device by which Curtius ensnares Frederick is not unlike Vendice and Hippolito’s trapping of the lecherous old Duke inThe Revenger’s Tragedy(4to, 1607), albeit the saturnine Tourneur gives the whole scene a far more terrible and tragic catastrophe.
In January, 1537, Lorenzino de Medici having enticed Duke Alessandro of Florence to his house under pretext of an assignation with a certain Caterina Ginori, after a terrible struggle assassinated him with the aid of a notorious bravo. Several plays have been founded upon this history. Notable amongst them are Shirley’s admirable tragedy,The Traitor(licensed May, 1631, 4to 1635) and in later days de Musset’sLorenzaccio(1834).
The Mask in Act v ofThe Amorous Princeis in its purport most palpably akin to the Elizabethans.
The Amorous Princewas produced by the Duke’s Company in the spring of 1671 at their Lincoln’s Inn Fields theatre, whence they migrated in November of the same year to the magnificent new house in Dorset Garden. No performers’ names are given to the comedy, which met with a very good reception. It seems to have kept the boards awhile, but there is no record of any particular revival.
PROLOGUE.Well!you expect aPrologueto the Play,And you expect it too Petition-way;WithChapeau basbeseeching you t’ excuseA damn’d Intrigue of an unpractis’d Muse;Tell you it’s Fortune waits upon your Smiles,And when you frown, Lord, how you kill the whiles!Or else to rally up the Sins of th’ Age,And bring each Fop in Town upon the Stage;And in one Prologue run more Vices o’er,Than either Court or City knew before:Ah! that’s a Wonder which will please you too,But my Commission’s not to please you now.First then for you graveDons, who love no PlayBut what is regular,GreatJohnson’sway;Who hate theMonsieurwith the Farce and Droll,But are for things well said with Spirit and Soul;’Tis you I mean, whose Judgments will admitNo Interludes of fooling with your Wit;You’re here defeated, and anon will cry,’Sdeath! wou’d ’twere Treason to write Comedy.So! there’s a Party lost; now for the rest,Who swear they’d rather hear a smutty JestSpoken byNokesorAngel, than a SceneOf the admir’d and well penn’dCataline;Who lovethe comick Hat,the Jig and Dance,Things that are fitted to their Ignorance:You too are quite undone, for here’s no FarceDamn me! you’ll cry, this Play will be mine A——Not serious, nor yet comick, what is’t then?Th’ imperfect issue of a lukewarm Brain:’Twas born before its time, and such a Whelp;As all the after-lickings could not help.Bait it then as ye please, we’ll not defend it,But he that dis-approves it, let him mend it.
Well!you expect aPrologueto the Play,And you expect it too Petition-way;WithChapeau basbeseeching you t’ excuseA damn’d Intrigue of an unpractis’d Muse;Tell you it’s Fortune waits upon your Smiles,And when you frown, Lord, how you kill the whiles!Or else to rally up the Sins of th’ Age,And bring each Fop in Town upon the Stage;And in one Prologue run more Vices o’er,Than either Court or City knew before:Ah! that’s a Wonder which will please you too,But my Commission’s not to please you now.First then for you graveDons, who love no PlayBut what is regular,GreatJohnson’sway;Who hate theMonsieurwith the Farce and Droll,But are for things well said with Spirit and Soul;’Tis you I mean, whose Judgments will admitNo Interludes of fooling with your Wit;You’re here defeated, and anon will cry,’Sdeath! wou’d ’twere Treason to write Comedy.So! there’s a Party lost; now for the rest,Who swear they’d rather hear a smutty JestSpoken byNokesorAngel, than a SceneOf the admir’d and well penn’dCataline;Who lovethe comick Hat,the Jig and Dance,Things that are fitted to their Ignorance:You too are quite undone, for here’s no FarceDamn me! you’ll cry, this Play will be mine A——Not serious, nor yet comick, what is’t then?Th’ imperfect issue of a lukewarm Brain:’Twas born before its time, and such a Whelp;As all the after-lickings could not help.Bait it then as ye please, we’ll not defend it,But he that dis-approves it, let him mend it.
Well!you expect aPrologueto the Play,
And you expect it too Petition-way;
WithChapeau basbeseeching you t’ excuse
A damn’d Intrigue of an unpractis’d Muse;
Tell you it’s Fortune waits upon your Smiles,
And when you frown, Lord, how you kill the whiles!
Or else to rally up the Sins of th’ Age,
And bring each Fop in Town upon the Stage;
And in one Prologue run more Vices o’er,
Than either Court or City knew before:
Ah! that’s a Wonder which will please you too,
But my Commission’s not to please you now.
First then for you graveDons, who love no Play
But what is regular,GreatJohnson’sway;
Who hate theMonsieurwith the Farce and Droll,
But are for things well said with Spirit and Soul;
’Tis you I mean, whose Judgments will admit
No Interludes of fooling with your Wit;
You’re here defeated, and anon will cry,
’Sdeath! wou’d ’twere Treason to write Comedy.
So! there’s a Party lost; now for the rest,
Who swear they’d rather hear a smutty Jest
Spoken byNokesorAngel, than a Scene
Of the admir’d and well penn’dCataline;
Who lovethe comick Hat,the Jig and Dance,
Things that are fitted to their Ignorance:
You too are quite undone, for here’s no Farce
Damn me! you’ll cry, this Play will be mine A——
Not serious, nor yet comick, what is’t then?
Th’ imperfect issue of a lukewarm Brain:
’Twas born before its time, and such a Whelp;
As all the after-lickings could not help.
Bait it then as ye please, we’ll not defend it,
But he that dis-approves it, let him mend it.
MEN.Frederick, Son to the Duke.Curtius, his Friend.Lorenzo, a rich extravagant Lord, a kind of Favourite toFrederick.Salvator, Father toLorenzoandLaura.Antonio, a Nobleman ofFlorence.Alberto, his dear Friend, a Nobleman also.Pietro, Man toCurtius.Galliard, Servant to the Prince.Guilliam, Man toCloris, a Country-fellow.Valet toAntonio.WOMEN.Clarina, Wife toAntonio.Ismena, Sister toAntonio, in love withAlberto.Laura, Sister toLorenzo, in love withCurtius.Cloris, Sister toCurtius, disguis’d like a Country Maid, in love withFrederick.Isabella, Woman toClarina.Lucia, Maid toCloris.Pages and Musick.
MEN.
Frederick, Son to the Duke.
Curtius, his Friend.
Lorenzo, a rich extravagant Lord, a kind of Favourite toFrederick.
Salvator, Father toLorenzoandLaura.
Antonio, a Nobleman ofFlorence.
Alberto, his dear Friend, a Nobleman also.
Pietro, Man toCurtius.
Galliard, Servant to the Prince.
Guilliam, Man toCloris, a Country-fellow.
Valet toAntonio.
WOMEN.
Clarina, Wife toAntonio.
Ismena, Sister toAntonio, in love withAlberto.
Laura, Sister toLorenzo, in love withCurtius.
Cloris, Sister toCurtius, disguis’d like a Country Maid, in love withFrederick.
Isabella, Woman toClarina.
Lucia, Maid toCloris.
Pages and Musick.