The Works of Aphra Behn Volume Iii Part 143

THE FALSE COUNT.

p. 99 _Forty One_. cf. note, Vol. II (p. 207) p. 433, _The City Heiress_.

p. 99 _no Plot was true_. A patent allusion to the fict.i.tious Popish Plot.

p. 99 _Conventicles_. For the accentuated last syllable, _vide_ Vol. I, p. 454. A striking example of this accentuation occurs in a Collection of _Loyal Songs_--1639-1661--

But all the Parish see it plain, Since thou art in this pickle, Thou art an Independent quean, And lov'st a conventicle.

p. 99 _Christian Suckling_. The charge of murdering young Christian boys, especially at Pa.s.sover time, and eating their flesh was continually brought against the Jews. Little St. Hugh of Lincoln, St.

William of Norwich, the infant St. Simon of Trent and many more were said to have been martyred in this way. But recently (1913) the trial of Mendil Beiliss, a Jew, upon a charge of ritually murdering the Russian lad Yushinsky has caused a world-wide sensation.

p. 99 _Gutling_. Guzzling. Guttle is used in a secondary sense (= to flatter) in _The City Heiress_. Vide Vol. II, note (on p. 207) p. 433.

p. 100 _took in Lamb's-Wool Ale_. Lamb's-Wool Ale is hot ale mixed with the pulp of roasted apples, sugared and well spiced. The allusion is to Lord Howard of Esrick, who, having been imprisoned in the Tower on a charge connected with the so-called Popish Plot, to prove his innocence took the Sacrament according to the rites of the English church. It is said, however, that on this occa.s.sion, instead of wine, lamb's-wool was profanely used. cf. Dryden's bitter jibe--_Absalom and Achitophel_ (November, 1681), I, 575:--

And canting Nadab let oblivion d.a.m.n, Who made new porridge for the paschal lamb.

cf. also _Absalom's IX Worthies_:--

Then prophane Nadab, that hates all sacred things, And on that score abominateth kings; With Mahomet wine he d.a.m.neth, with intent To erect his Paschal-lamb's-wool-Sacrament.

A ballad on the Rye House Plot, ent.i.tled _The Conspiracy; or, The Discovery of the Fanatic Plot_, sings:--

Next valiant and n.o.ble Lord Howard, That formerly dealt in lamb's wool; Who knowing what it is to be towered, By impeaching may fill the jails full.

p. 100 _Brumighams_. Bromingham was a slang term of the day for a Whig.

Roger North says that the Tories nicknamed the opposite party '_Birmingham_ Protestants, alluding to the false groats struck at that place'. Birmingham was already noted for spurious coinage. cf. Dryden's prologue to _The Spanish Friar_ (1681):--

What e'er base metal come You coin as fast as groats at Bromingam.

A panegyric on the return of the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess of York from Scotland says of Shaftesbury's medal that

'Twas coined by stealth, like groats at Birmingham.

For Birmingham = Whig we have _Old Jemmy, an Excellent New Ballad_:

Let Whig and Bromingham repine, They show their teeth in vain; The glory of the British line, Old Jemmy's come again.

Also in Matthew Taubman's _A Medley on the Plot_, this stanza occurs:--

Confound the hypocrites, Birminghams royal, Who think allegiance a transgression; Since to oppose the King is counted loyal, And to rail high at the succession.

Dryden in his Preface to _Absalom and Achitophel_, I, speaks of 'an Anti-Bromingham', i.e. a Tory.

p. 100 _dry bobs_. A bob was a sarcastic jest or jibe. cf. _Sir Giles Goosecappe_ (1606), Act. v, I. 'Marry him, sweet Lady, to answere his bitter Bob,' and Buckingham's _The Rehearsal_ (1671), Act iii, I, where Bayes cries: 'There's a bob for the Court.' A dry bob (literally = a blow or fillip that does not break the skin) is an intensely bitter taunt, cf. _Cotgrave_ (1611), _Ruade seiche_, a drie bob, jeast or nip.

_Bailey_ (1731) has '_Dry Bob_. a Taunt or Scoff'.

p. 100 _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. Matthew_ v, 33-7, which they feigned exactly to follow. Timothy Thin-beard, a rascally Puritan, in Heywood's _If you Know Not Me, You Know n.o.body_, Part II (4to, 1606), is continually a.s.severating 'By yea and nay', cf. Fletcher's _Monsieur Thomas_, Act ii, III, where Thomas says:--

Do not ye see me alter'd? 'Yea and Nay,' gentlemen; A much-converted man.

In _Sir Patient Fancy_ (1678), Lady Knowell's late husband, a rank Puritan, is said to have been 'a great Ay and No Man i'th' City, and a painful promoter of the good Cause.'

p. 109 _Twins_. Vide note (p. 319, _Amorous Twire_), Vol. II, p. 440, _The Feigned Courtezans_.

p. 113 _gives Julia the Letter_. Mrs. Behn took the hint for this device from _L'Ecole des Maris_, ii, XIV, where Isabella feigning to embrace Sganarelle gives her hand to Valere to kiss.

p. 116 _Just-au-corps_. 'A sort of jacket called a _justacorps_ came into fashion in Paris about 1650. M. Quicherat informs us that a pretty Parisienne, the wife of a _maitre de comptes_ named Belot, was the first who appeared in it. In a ballad called _The New-made Gentlewoman_, written in the reign of Charles II, occurs the line "My justico and black patches I wear". Mr. Fairholt suggested that _justico_ may be a corruption of _juste au corps_.--Planche's _Cyclopedia of Costume_, Vol. I, p. 318. Pepys, 26 April, 1667, saw the d.u.c.h.ess of Newcastle 'naked-necked, without anything about it, and a black just-au-corps'.

cf. Dryden's _Limberham; or, The Kind Keeper_ (1678), iv, I: '_Aldo_.

Give her out the flower'd Justacorps with the petticoat belonging to't.'

p. 116 _Towers_, The tower at this time was a curled frontlet of false hair. cf. Crowne's _The Country Wit_ (1675), Act ii, II, where Lady Faddle cries to her maid, 'run to my milliner's for my gloves and essences ... run for my new towre.' Shadwell, _The Virtuoso_ (1676), Act iii, mentions 'Tires for the head, locks, tours, frouzes, and so forth'.

_The Debauchee_ (1677), Act ii, I: Mrs. Saleware speaks of buying 'fine clothes, and tours, and Points and knots.' _The Younger Brother_ (1696), Act v, the last scene, old Lady Youthly anxiously asks her maid, 'is not this Tour too brown?' During the reign of Mary II and particularly in the time of Anne a Tower meant almost exclusively the high starched head-dress in vogue at that period.

p. 116 _beat the hoof_. To go packing; to trudge off on foot. _Dic.

Canting Crew_ (1690), 'Hoof it or beat it on the Hoof--to walk on foot.'

Pad the hoof is a yet commoner expression. These and similar slang are still much used.

p. 117 _finical_. According to the _N.E.D_. the use of finical as a verb is a nonce word only found in this pa.s.sage.

p. 119 _lead Apes in h.e.l.l_. To die an old maid. A very common expression.

It will be remembered that Beatrice had something to say on the subject.

--_Much Ado About Nothing_, Act ii, I.

p. 122 _Docity_. Gumption, cf. note (p. 340), Vol. II, p. 441, _The Feign'd Curtezans_.

p. 123 _Don Del Phobos_. The adventures of the Knight of the Sun and his brother Rosiclair belong to the Amadis school of romance. They were published in two volumes, folio, at Saragossa, 1580, under the t.i.tle _Espejo de principes e cavalleros; o, Cavallero del Febo_. The first part of this romance was translated into English by Margaret Tiler, _The Mirrour of Princely deedes and Knighthood_ (4to, 1578), other portions appearing subsequently. The whole four parts, translated from the original Spanish into French, appeared in eight volumes, and an abridged version was made by the Marquis de Paulmy. The Amadis cycle long remained immensely popular.

p. 129 _Gad-bee in his Brain_. As we now say 'a bee in his bonnet'. For 'Gad-bee' cf. Holland's _Pliny_ (1601) I, 318. 'The bigger kind of bees ... and this vermin is called _Oestrus_ (i.e. the gad-bee or horse fly).' cf. _The Lucky Chance_, ii, II: 'The Gad-Bee's in his Quonundrum'

and note on that pa.s.sage infra. For the idea compare 'brize-stung'

(= crazed).

p. 142 _c.o.c.kt_. Set his hat jauntily. A very frequent phrase.

p. 146 _Slashes_. b.u.mpers. From the idea of vigour contained in 'slash'.

The word is extremely rare in this sense and perhaps only found here.

But cf. Scottish (Lothian) 'slash' = a great quant.i.ty of broth or any other sorbile food.

p. 148 _what the Devil made me a ship-board_? cf. Geronte's reiterated complaint 'Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galere?'--_Les Fourberies de Scapin_ (1671), ii, VII; and the phrase in Cyrano de Bergerac's _Le Pedant Joue_ (1654): 'Ha! que diable, que diable aller faire en cette galere?... Aller sans dessein dans une galere!... Dans la galere d'un Turc!'--Act ii, IV. In France this phrase is proverbial.

p. 156 _glout thy Eyes_. Scowl; frown. Glout (without 'thy Eyes') is very common in this sense. cf. Note (p. 201), Vol. II, p. 433.

p. 160 _an Antick_. A fantastic measure. This is a favourite word with Mrs. Behn.

p. 165 _Aquinius his Case_. This is, I take it, some confused allusion to the great Dominican Doctor, S. Thomas Aquinas, who was regarded as being the supreme Master of scholasticism and casuistry. Casuistry must be taken in its true and original meaning--the balancing and deciding of individual cases.