The Works of Aphra Behn Volume Iii Part 145

p. 207 _the wonderful Salamanca Doctor_. cf. Notes, Vol. II, p. 433.

_silken Doctor. The City Heiress_. Prologue (p. 202); and Vol. II, p.

437. _Salamanca. The City Heiress_, v, V (p. 297).

p. 208 _the Twire_. cf. Note, Vol. II, p. 440. _Amorous Twire. The Feign'd Curtezans_, i, II (p. 319).

p. 210 _gutling_. Guzzling, cf. supra, p. 479.

p. 210 _Docity_. cf. Note, Vol. II, p. 441. _Docity. The Feign'd Curtezans_. ii, I (p. 340).

p. 210 _laid in Lavender_. An old and common phrase for 'to p.a.w.n'.

cf. Florio, _Worlds of Wordes_ (1593): 'To lay to p.a.w.ne, as we say, to lay in Lavender.' Ben Jonson, _Every Man out of his Humour_, Act iii, sc. III: 'And a black sattin suit of his own to go before her in; which suit (for the more sweet'ning) now lies in Lavender.'

p. 210 _Enter Rag and Landlady_. Mrs. Behn remembered how Don John treated Dame Gillian, his landlady. _The Chances_, i, IX.

p. 211 _Judas_. cf. Note, Vol. I, p. 457. _The Roundheads_. v, II (p. 413).

p. 211 _flabber_. Fat; puffed out. A very rare adjective, perhaps only here. The _N.E.D_. quotes this pa.s.sage with a reference to the adjective 'flaberkin' = puffed out, puffy, and a suggestion that it is akin to the substantive 'flab' = something thick, broad, fat.

p. 212 _this old Sir Guy of Warwick_. Sir Guy of Warwick is an old slang name for a sword; a rapier. The name is taken from the romance (of which there were many versions) and which proved extraordinarily popular. It was first licensed 'in prose by Martyn Parker' to Oulton, 24 November, 1640. Smithson's version was first printed in black letter, and a second edition appeared in 1686. John Shurley's version was published 4to, 1681 and again 1685. Esdalle, _English Tales and Romances_, enumerates sixteen versions, editions and abridgements, concluding with 'The Seventh Edition' 12mo, 1733.

p. 214 _Enter Bredwel_. Lady Fulbank supplying Gayman with money through the medium of Bredwel 'drest like a Devil' is reminiscent of incidents in Dryden's first comedy, _The Wild Gallant_ (1663, and revised version, 1667; 4to, 1667), where Lady Constance employs Setstone, a jeweller, to accomodate Loveby with ready cash. Loveby is benefited to the tune of two hundred and fifty pounds, which are filched from the study of old Lord Nonsuch, who complains in much the same way as Sir Cautious. Loveby declares it must be the devil who has enriched him, and forthwith rescues his 'Suit with the Gold Lace at Sleeves from Tribulation.' Owing to his poverty he has been unable to visit Constance, and when he appears before her in his gay clothes he excuses his fortnight's absence by saying, I have been 'out of Town to see a little thing that's fallen to me upon the Death of a Grandmother.' In Act i of _The Wild Gallant_ Loveby gives Bibber a humorous description of a garret, which may be paralleled with Bredwel's 'lewd' picture of Cayman's chamber--_The Lucky Chance_, Act i, II. It must be allowed that Mrs. Behn bears away the palm in this witty pa.s.sage. _The Wild Gallant_ is, by Dryden's own confession (cf. the First Prologue), founded on a Spanish plot. In the Preface he says: 'The Plot was not Originally my own: But so alter'd by me, (whether for better or worse, I know not) that, whoever the Author was, he could not have challeng'd a Scene of it.' So vast, indeed, is the library of the Spanish Theatre that it has not as yet been identified, a task which in view of the author's own statement may well be deemed nigh impossible. Recent critics have pertinently suggested that the device of furnishing Loveby with money was the chief hint for which Dryden is indebted to Spain. The conduct of the amour between Lady Fulbank and Gayman, founded as it is on Shirley's _The Lady of Pleasure_, has nothing in common with Otway's intrigue between Beaugard and Portia--_The Atheist_ (1683)--which owes itself to Scarron's novel, _The Invisible Mistress_.

p. 222 _the Gad-Bee's in his Quonundrum_. _Gad-Bee_, vide supra. _The False Count_, Act ii, II (p. 129), note, p. 481. _Quonundrum_ or Conundrum. A whim; crotchet; maggot; conceit. The _N.E.D_. quotes this pa.s.sage, cf. Jonson's _Volpone_, Act v, sc. II: 'I must ha' my crotchets! And my conundrums!' _Dic. Cant. Crew_ (1700) has: '_Conundrums_. Whimms, Maggots and such like.'

p. 222 _jiggiting_. To jigget = to jig, hop or skip; to jump about, and to fidget, cf. T. Barker, _The Female Tatler_ (1709), No. 15: 'She has a languishing Eye, a delicious soft Hand, and two pretty jiggetting Feet.'

cf. _to giggit_. Note, Vol. II, p. 436. _fisking and giggiting_. _The City Heiress_, ii, II (p. 262).

p. 223 _we'll toss the Stocking_. This merry old matrimonial custom in use at the bedding of the happy pair is often alluded to. cf. Pepys, 8 February, 1663: 'Another story was how Lady Castlemaine, a few days since, had Mrs. Stewart to an entertainment, and at night begun a frolique that they two must be married; and married they were, with ring and all other ceremonies of church service, and ribbands, and a sack posset in bed and flinging the stocking; but in the close it is said my Lady Castlemaine, who was the bridegroom, rose, and the King come and take her place.'

p. 224 _the Entry_. In the Restoration theatre it was the usual practice for the curtain to rise at the commencement and fall at the end of the play, so that the close of each intermediate act was only marked by a clear stage. There are, however, exceptions to this rule, more particularly when some elaborate set or Tableau began a new act. A striking example is Act ii, _The Forc'd Marriage_.

p. 224 _Mr. Cheek_. Thomas Cheek was a well-known wit and songwriter of the day. His name not infrequently occurs to the graceful lyrics with which he supplied the theatre. There are some pretty lines of his, 'Corinna, I excuse thy face', in Act v of Southerne's _The Wives Excuse; or, Cuckolds make Themselves_ (1692); and a still better song, 'Bright Cynthia's pow'r divinely great,' which was sung by Leveridge in the second act of Southerne's _Oroonoko_ (1699), came from his prolific pen.

p. 225 _Bandstrings_. Strings for fastening his bands or collar which were in the seventeenth century frequently ornamented with ta.s.sels, cf.

Selden, Table-Talk (1689): 'If a man twirls his Bandstrings'; and Wood, _Ath. Oxon_. (1691): 'He [wore] snakebone bandstrings (or bandstrings with huge ta.s.sels).'

p. 225 _yare_. Eager; ready; prepared from A.-S. gearo. cf. _Measure for Measure_, iv, II: 'You shall find me yare'; and _The Tempest_, i, I: 'Cheerly, my hearts! yare, yare!'; also Act v, sc. I: 'Our ship ... is tight and yare.' Also _Antony and Cleopatra_, v, II: 'yare, yare, good Iras; quick.' Ray gives it as a Suffolk word, and the 'hear, hear' of Lowestoft boatmen of to-day is probably a disguised 'yare, yare'.

p. 226 _Livery and Seisin_. A very common error for the legal term 'livery of seisin' which signifies the delivery of property into the corporal possession of a person.

p. 251 _Song. Oh! Love_. Mr. Bullen, who includes this 'impa.s.sioned song' in his _Musa Proterva: Love-Poems of the Restoration_ (1889), has the following note: 'Did Mrs. Behn write these fine verses?... Henry Playford, a well-known publisher of music, issued in the same year [1687] the Fourth Book of _The Theatre of Music_, where "O Love, that stronger art" appeared with the heading "The Song in Madam Bhen's last New Play, sung by Mr. Bowman, set by Dr. John Blow." At the end of the song Playford adds, "These words by Mr. Ousley." ... Mrs. Behn usually acknowledged her obligations; but she may have been neglectful on the present occasion. Ousley's claim cannot be lightly set aside.' There is nothing to add to this, and we can only say that Aphra Behn had such true lyric genius that 'Oh! Love that stronger art' is in no way beyond her. A statement which neither disposes of nor invalidates Ousley's claim based, as this is, upon such strong and definite evidence.

John Bowman (or Boman) who acted Bredwel had 'as a boy' joined the Duke's Company about 1673. He was, says Cibber, in the days of Charles II 'a Youth fam'd for his Voice', and he often sang before the King, no indifferent judge of music. Bowman's name appears as Peter Santlow in _The Counterfeit Bridegroom; or, the Defeated Widow_ (1677). He soon became an actor of considerable merit, and created Tattle in _Love for Love_ (1695). He is said to have remained on the stage for the extraordinary period of sixty-five years, and to have played within a few months of his death. Davies speaks highly of his acting, even in extreme old age. Oldys (MS. note on Langbaine) refers to him as 'old Mr. John Bowman'. Cibber, in his _Apology_ (1740), speaks of '_Boman_ the late Actor of venerable Memory'.

p. 234 _half Pike_. 'Now _Hist_. A small pike having a shaft of one half the length of the full-sized one. There were two kinds; one, also called a _spontoon_, formerly carried by infantry officers; the other, used on ships for repelling boarders, a boarding-pike,'--_N.E.D_. which quotes (inter alia) Ma.s.singer, &c., _Old Law_ (4to, 1656), Act iii, II: 'Here's a half-pike'; and Froger, _Voyages_ (1698): 'Their ordinary Arms are the Hanger, the Sagary (a.s.sagai), which is a very light Half-Pike.'

p. 245 _Geometry_. A colloquial term for magic.

p. 247 _a Sirreverence under your Girdle_. 'To have an M under (or by) the Girdle' was a proverbial expression = to have a courteous address by using the t.i.tles Mr., Mrs., Miss, &c. cf. Halliwell, _Dictionary Archaic and Proverhial Words_; 'M. ... to keep the term "Master" out of sight, to be wanting in proper respect.' cf. _Eastward Hoe_ (1605), Jonson, Chapman, and Marston, iv, I: 'You might carry an M under your Girdle'; and not infrequently. Sir- (or Save-) Reverence is an old and very common colloquialism. It was the most usual form of apology when mentioning anything likely to offend, or naming a word for which excuse was thought proper or necessary. Wherefore it came to stand in place of various words of obscene sound or meaning. There are innumerable instances from Mandeville (1356); down to recent times, and even Devonshire dialect to-day.

p. 248 _the George in White-Fryers_. The George tavern was situated in Dogwell Court, and some little time after the abolition of the vicious privileges of Alsatia by the Act 8 and 9 William III, c. 27 (1697), it was converted into the printing office of William Bowyer, the elder.

These premises were destroyed by fire, 30 January, 1713. Scene II, Act i of Shadwell's _The Squire of Alsatia_ (1688), is laid 'at the George in Whitefriars'.

p. 249 _he cullies_. To cully = to cheat; trick. Although the verb, which came into use circa 1670, and persisted for a full century, is rare, the substantive 'a cully' (= a fool) is very common. For the verb, cf. Pomfret, _Poems_ (1699), _Divine Attributes_: 'Tricks to cully fools.'

p. 249 _he pads_. The substantive 'pad' = a path or highway. Bailey (1730-6) has 'to Pad ... to rob on the road on foot.' cf. Ford's _The Lady's Trial_ (1639), v, I: 'One can ... pick a pocket, Pad for a cloak or hat'; and also Cotton Mather's _Discourse on Witchcraft_ (1689), chap, vii: 'As if you or I should say: We never met with any robbers on the road, therefore there never was any Padding there.'

p. 250 _sport a Dye_. To play at dice. 'To sport', generic for 'to parade' or 'display' was, and is a very common phrase. It is especially found in public school and university slang. This is a very early example.

p. 250 _Teaster_. i.e. a tester--sixpence, cf. Farquhar's _Love and a Bottle_, (1698), i, I, where Brush says: 'Who throws away a Tester and a mistress loses sixpence.'

p. 251 _to top upon him_. To cheat him; to trick him; especially to cheat with dice. cf. _Dictionary of the Canting Crew_ (by B.E. _gent_., 1696): 'Top. What do you Top upon me? _c_. do you stick a little Wax to the Dice to keep them together, to get the Chance, you wou'd have? He thought to have Topt upon me. _c_. he design'd to have Put upon me, Sharpt me, Bullied me, or Affronted me.'

p. 251 _we are not half in kelter_. Kelter (or kilter) = order; condition; spirits. cf. Barrow, Sermons, I, Ser. 6: 'If the organs of prayer are out of Kelter, or out of time, how can we pray?' _Dictionary Canting Crew_ (1690), has: 'Out of Kelter, out of sorts.' The phrase is by no means rare.

p. 251 _as Trincolo says_. Lady Fulbank mistakes. The remark is made by Stephano, not Trincalo. Dryden and Davenant's _The Tempest_ (1667), Act ii, I: '_Ventoso_. My wife's a good old jade ...

... _Stephano_. Would you were both hanged, for putting me in thought of mine!'

p. 252 _Ladies of Quality in the Middle Gallery_. The jest lies in the fact that the middle gallery or eighteenpenny place in a Restoration theatre was greatly frequented by, if not almost entirely set aside for, women of the town. cf. Dryden's _Epilogue on the Union_ (1682):--

But stay; me thinks some Vizard-Mask I see Cast out her Lure from the mid Gallery: About her all the fluttering Sparks are rang'd; The Noise continues, though the Scene is chang'd: Now growling, sputt'ring, wauling, such a clutter!

'Tis just like Puss defendant in a Gutter.

And again, in his Prologue to Southerne's _The Disappointment_ (1684), he has:--

Last there are some, who take their first degrees Of lewdness in our middle galleries: The doughty bullies enter b.l.o.o.d.y drunk, Invade and grabble one another's punk.

p. 257 _Hortensius_. Cato Uticensis is said in 56 B.C. to have ceded his wife Marcia to Q. Hortensius, and at the death of Hortensius in 50 B.C.

to have taken her back again--Plutarch, _Cato Min_., 25.

p. 258 _he has a Fly_. A fly = a familiar. From the common old belief that an attendant demon waited on warlocks and witches in the shape of a fly, or some similar insect. cf. Jonson's _The Alchemist_, I (1610):--

You are mistaken, doctor, Why he does ask one but for cups and horses, A rifling fly, none of your great familiars.

Also Ma.s.singer's The _Virgin Martyr_, ii, II:--

Courtiers have flies That buzz all news unto them.

p. 271 _Snow-hill_. The old Snow Hill, a very narrow and steep highway between Holborn Bridge and Newgate, was cleared away when Holborn Viaduct was made in 1867. In the days of Charles II it was famous for its chapmen, vendors of ballads with rough woodcuts atop. Dorset, lampooning Edward Howard, has the following lines:

Whence Does all this mighty ma.s.s of dullness spring, Which in such loads thou to the stage dost bring?

Is't all thine own? Or hast thou from _Snow Hill_ The a.s.sistance of some ballad-making quill?

p. 271 _Cuckolds Haven_. This was the name given to a well-known point in the Thames. It is depicted by Hogarth, _Industry and Idleness_, No. 6.

Nahum Tate has a farce, borrowed from _Eastward Hoe_ and _The Devil's an a.s.s_, ent.i.tled _Cuckold's Haven; or, An Alderman no Conjuror_ (1685).

p. 278 _Nice and Flutter_. The two typical Fops of the day. Sir Courtly Nice, created by Mountford, is the hero of Crowne's excellent comedy, _Sir Courtly Nice_ (1685). In Act v he sings a little song he has made on his Mistress: 'As I gaz'd unaware, On a face so fair--.' Sir Fopling Flutter is the hero of Etheredge's masterpiece, _The Man of Mode; or, Sir Fopling Flutter_ (1676). Sir Fopling, a portrait of Beau Hewitt, became proverbial. The role was created by Smith.