The Works of Aphra Behn Volume Iv Part 35

p. 100 _Medicinae Professores._ This is from the _Troisieme Intermede_ of _Le Malade Imaginaire_ which commences:--

Savantissimi doctores, Medicinae professores, Qui hic a.s.semblati estis; Et vos, altri messiores, Sententiarum facultatis.

p. 101 _Vanderbergen._ A well-known empiric of the day.

p. 102 _Haly the Moore, and Rabbi Isaac._ Ali Bey (Bobrowski), a Polish scholar, died at Constantinople 1675. He wrote, amongst other treatises, _De Circ.u.mcisione_; _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. 104 _Stetin._ 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. 105 _A Dutch b.u.t.ter-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 b.u.t.ter; originally half-a-kilderkin. _Dictionary of the Canting Crew_ (1700) has 'Firkin of foul Stuff; a ... Coa.r.s.e, Corpulent Woman'. cf. Dryden's _Mac 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. 105 _Toping 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. 105 _Cater-Tray._ Quatre-trois; a cast at dice.

p. 112 _Good morrow._ Wittmore quotes the opening lines of _Volpone_, 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. 115 _John-a-Nokes._ The fict.i.tious 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 nincomp.o.o.p.

+Epilogue+

p. 116 _Vizard Mask._ The commonest Restoration synonym for a 'bona roba', especially as plying the theatre.

Cross-References from Critical Notes: _Sir Patient Fancy_

p. 22 _the Bergere._ cf. _The Feign'd Curtezans_ (Vol. II, p. 346): 'The hour of the Berjere'; and the note on that pa.s.sage (p. 441).

_Feign'd Curtezans_ note:

_The hour of the Berjere._ L'heure du berger ou l'amant trouve celle qu'il aime favorable a ses voeux. cf. La Fontaine, _Contes. La Coupe Enchantee_. '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 of _The 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 there Except _l'heure du Bergere_.

p. 32 _Ay and No Man._ cf. Prologue to _The False Count_ (Vol. III, p. 100): 'By Yea and Nay'; and note on that pa.s.sage (p. 480).

_False Count_ note:

_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.

Errors and Irregularities: Sir Patient Fancy

In the Notes, alternation between .' and '. at paragraph-end is as printed. The abbreviation "cf." is always lower-case.

Editor's Introduction

but yet everything she touched [eveything]

Sir Patient Fancy

And a Tyrannick Commonwealth prefer [Tryannick]

Ton d' apamibominous prosiphe podas ochus Achilleus [_in standard transliteration:_ Ton d' apameibomenos prosephe podas okus Achilleus _Each element ("Ton ... prosephe" and "podas okus Achilleus") is used several dozen times in the _Iliad_; the complete line occurs at least ten times._]

a _Lancashire_ Bag-pipe [_anomalous hyphen in original_]

_Wit._ Nor to Chuch? [_spelling unchanged_]

& _Reparteee bien_ [_spelling unchanged_]

and d'on on slip shoe: [_text unchanged: compare Note on III.ix_]

_Wit._ At Sir _Patient Fancy's_, my Father-in-law. [? for .]

for the use and comfort of Man [. missing]

Sir _Pat._ How does my good, my dearest Lady _Fancy_?

[_speaker name not italicized_]

[Puts Sir _Pat._ back. / [Exit _Wit._ [_bracket before "Exit" added for consistency in e-text_]

Enter Lady _Fancy_ and _Wittmore_.

[_"and" non-Italic (emphatic)_]

_Wit._ Go, haste and ... [Exeunt _Lod._ and Sir _Cred._ [Exeuut]

Notes on Text

p. 10 _Dramatis Personae._ ... in the introduction [in the the]

p. 13, l. 14 [p. 13 l. 14]

p. 98, l. 16 [p. 98, l. 16.]

Critical Notes

p. 65 _Madame Brenvilliers._ [_body text has "Madam"_]