Chapter 93

that as the drama was staged Smith and Mrs. Jennings advanced and the curtain fell behind them hiding the rest of the characters, only to rise again upon Scene II, ‘The Court Gallery’. Philander and Galatea played upon the apron stage. If they, however, maintained their places in the tableau, they would have immediately after entered on to the apron, before the curtain, by way of the proscenium doors. In any case Scene I must have been acted well forward.

p. 312 _rencounter_. Meet.

p. 322 _Phi. Who’s there_. The Duke of Buckingham, in _The Rehearsal_ (1671), Actus ii, scaena V, has a fray burlesquing this passage.

p. 325 _Phi. Villain, thou ly’st_. cf. _The Rehearsal_, Actus v, scaena I: _’.ieutenant-General. Villain, thou lyest.’.

p. 330 _Campania_. The operations of an army in the field during a season. cf. Edmund Everard’s _Discourses on the Present State of the Protestant Princes of Europe_ (1679): ‘Since the last campania the Three ... have entred into the entanglement of a War.’

p. 331 _Pattacoon_. A Spanish dollar value 4s. 8d; vide supra, Vol. I, _The Rover_ (I), ii, I (p. 36) and note on that passage, p. 442.

p. 347 _in a dishabit_. This word is excessively rare, if this be not the unique example. The _N.E.D_. fails to include it. Dishabille had been introduced from France in the reign of Charles II, and (in its various forms) became exceedingly popular. It is noticeable that all other editions, save the first quarto (1671), in this passage read ’.n an undress’.

p. 352 _or smothers her with a pillow_. This is only in the first quarto. Here in particular, and throughout the whole scene, Mrs. Behn’s reminiscences of _Othello_ are very patent.

p. 358 _Enter Erminia veil’d_. In Sir William Barclay’s _The Lost Lady_ (folio 1639), a good, if intricate, tragi-comedy, which was received with applause after the Restoration [Pepys saw it 19 January, 1661, and again, rather more than a week later, on the 28th of the same month], and not forgotten by Buckingham when he penned _The Rehearsal_, Milesia (supposed dead), the wife of Lysicles, appears to her husband as a ghost --Act v, sc. I. It is very possible that Mrs. Behn hence took her hint for the phantom of the living Erminia. It is noticeable that generations after Tobin borrowed not a few incidents from _The Lost Lady_ for _The Curfew_, produced at Drury Lane, 19 February, 1807, a posthumous play. In Lodowick Carlell’s _The Fool Would be a Favourite; or, The Discreet Lover_ (12mo, 1657), we have Philantus confronting Lucinda as his own ghost--(Actus Quintus).

p. 358 _Tiffany_. A kind of thin silk gauze. cf. Philemon Holland’s _Plinie_, Bk. XI, ch. xxii: ‘The invention of that fine silke, tiffanie, sarcenet, and cypres, which instead of apparell to cover and hide, shew women naked through them.’ All subsequent editions to 4to 1671, read ’.affety’ in this passage.

THE EMPEROR OF THE MOON.

p. 390 _Lord Marquess of Worcester_. Charles, Marquis of Worcester (1661-1698), father of Henry Somerset, second Duke of Beaufort, was the second son [Henry, his elder brother, died young] of Henry Somerset, first Duke of Beaufort (1629-1700), by Mary, eldest daughter of Arthur, first Lord Capel. The first Duke of Beaufort, the staunchest of Tories, was high in favour with Charles I, Charles II, and James II. Charles, the son and heir, was killed through an accident to his coach in Wales, July, 1698, and the shock is said to have hastened the old Duke’s end.

p. 391 _acted in France eighty odd times_. The original scenes were produced by the Italian comedians at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, 5 March, 1684. Their popularity did not wane for many a decade. In the fifth edition (1721) of Gherardi’s _Théâtre Italien_ there are far fuller excerpts from the farce than in the first edition (1695).

p. 392 _who now cannot supply one_. The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. If Mrs. Behn’s complaint about the public is true, James II was, none the less, himself a good friend to the stage, and many excellent plays were produced during his reign. There is, however, considerable evidence that at this period of strife--religious and political, rebellion and revolt --things theatrical were very badly affected, and the play-house poorly attended.

p. 393 _No Woman without Vizard_. cf. Cibber in his _Apology_ (1740), ch. viii: ‘I remember the ladies were then observed to be decently afraid of venturing bare-faced to a new comedy, till they had been assured they might do it, without the risk of an insult to their modesty: or, if their curiosity were too strong for their patience, they took care, at least, to save appearances, and rarely came upon the first days of acting but in masks (then daily worn, and admitted in the pit, the side-boxes, and gallery) which custom, however, had so many ill consequences attending it, that it has been abolished these many years.’

p. 394 _Sice_. Six. The number six at dice.

p. 394 _it sings Sawny. Saunie’s Neglect_. This popular old Scotch song is to be found, with a tune, on p. 317, Vol. I, D’Urfey’s _Wit and Mirth; or, Pills to Purge Melancholy_ (1719). It had previously been given in _Wit and Drollery_ (1681). It commences thus:--

Sawney was tall and of noble race And lov’d me better than any eane But now he ligs by another lass And Sawney will ne’er be my true love agen.

Ravenscroft, in _The London Cuckolds_ (1682), Act iii, introduces a link-boy singing this verse as he passes down the street.

p. 394 _There’s nothing lasting but the Puppets Show_. About this time there was a famous Puppet Show in Salisbury Change which was so frequented that the actors were reduced to petition against it. cf. The Epilogue (spoken by Jevon) to Mountfort’s _The Injured Lovers_ (1688), where the actor tells the audience they must be kind to the poet:--

Else to stand by him, every man has swore. To Salisbury Court we’ll hurry you next week Where not for whores, but coaches you may seek; And more to plague you, there shall be no Play, But the Emperor of the Moon for every day.

Philander and Irene are the conventional names of lovers in the novels and puppet plays which were fashionable. It is interesting to note that less than a century after this prologue was first spoken, _The Emperor of the Moon_ was itself being played at the puppet show in Exeter Change.

p. 395 _Doctor Baliardo_. The Doctor was one of the leading masks, stock characters, in Italian impromptu comedy. Doctor Graziano, or Baloardo Grazian, is a pedant, a philosopher, grammarian, rhetorician, astronomer, cabalist, a savant of the first water, boasting of his degree from Bologna, trailing the gown of that august university. Pompous in phrase and person, his speech is crammed with lawyer’s jargon and quibbles, with distorted Latin and ridiculous metaphors. He is dressed in black with bands and a huge shovel hat. He wears a black vizard with wine-stained cheeks. From 1653 until his death at an advanced age in 1694 the representative of Dr. Baloardo was Angelo Augustino Lolli. The Doctor’s speeches in _Arlequin Empereur dans la Lune_ (1684), are a mixture of French and Italian.

p. 395 _Scaramouch_. In the original _Arlequin Empereur dans la Lune_ Scaramouch is Pierrot. The make-up and costume of Pierrot (Pedrolino) circa 1673 is thus described: ‘La figure blanchie. Serre-tête blanc. Chapeau blanc. Veste et culotte de toile blanche. Bas blancs. Souliers blancs à rubans blancs.’ It will be seen that he differed little from his modern representative. Arlechino appeared in 1671 thus: ‘Veste et pantalon à fond jaune clair. Triangles d’.toffes rouges et vertes. Boutons de cuivre. Bas blancs, Souilers de peau blanche à rubans rouges. Ceinture de cuir jaune à boucle de cuivre. Masque noir. Serre-tête noir. Mentonnière noire. Chapeau gris à queue de lièvre. Batte. Collerette de mousseline.’

Colombine (Mopsophil) in 1683 wore a traditional costume: ‘Casaquin rouge bordé de noir. Jupe gris-perle. Souliers rouges bordés de noir. Manches et collerette de mousseline. Rayon de dentelle et touffe de rubans rose vif. Tablier blanc garni de dentelles.’

p. 397 _your trusty Roger_. cf. John Weever’s _Ancient funerall monuments_ (folio, 1631): ‘The seruant obeyed and (like a good trusty Roger) performed his Master’s commandment.’ Roger stands as a generic name.

p. 399 _Lucian’s Dialogue_. The famous [Greek: Ikaromenippos hae hypernephelos]--’Icaromenippus; or, up in the Clouds.’ Mrs. Behn no doubt used the translation of Lucian by Ferrand Spence. 5 Vols. 1684-5. ’.caromenippus’ is given in Vol. III (1684).

p. 399 _The Man in the Moon. The Man in the Moone_, by Domingo Gonsales (i.e. Francis Godwin, Bishop of Llandaff, and later of Hereford), 8vo, 1638, and 12mo, 1657. This is a highly diverting work. The Second Edition (1657) has various cuts amongst which is a frontispiece, that occurs again at page 29 of the little volume, depicting Gonsales being drawn up to the lunar world in a machine, not unlike a primitive parachute, to which are harnessed his ‘gansas ... 25 in number, a covey that carried him along lustily.’

p. 399 _A Discourse of the World in the Moon_. Cyrano de Bergerac’s [Greek Selaenarchia] _or the Government of the World in the Moon: Done into English by Tho. St. Serf, Gent_. (16mo, 1659), and another version, _The Comical History of the States and Empires of the Worlds of the Moon and Sun, newly Englished by A. Lovell, A.M_. (8vo, 1687).

p. 400 _Plumeys_. Gallants; beaus. So termed, of course, from their feathered hats. cf. Dryden’s _An Evening’s Love_ (1668), Act i, I, where Jacinta, referring to the two gallants, says: ‘I guess ‘em to be Feathers of the _English_ Ambassador’s train.’ cf. Pope’s Sir Plume in _The Rape of the Lock_. In one of the French scenes of _La Precaution inutile_, produced 5 March, 1692, by the Italian comedians, Gaufichon (Act i, I) cries to Leandre: ‘Je destine ma soeur a Monsieur le Docteur Balouard, et trente Plumets comme vous ne la détourneroient pas d’un aussi bon rencontre.’ The French word = a fop is, however, extremely rare. Plumet more often = un jeune militaire. cf. Panard (1694-1765); _Oeuvres_ (1803), Tome III, p. 355:--

Que les plumets seraient aimables Si leurs feux etaient plus constants!

p. 401 _Cannons_. Canons were the immense and exaggerated breeches, adorned with ribbons and richest lace, which were worn by the fops of the court of Louis XIV. There is more than one reference to them in Molière. Ozell, in his translation of Molière (1714), writes ‘cannions’. cf. _School for Husbands_, Vol. II, p. 32: ‘those great cannions wherein the legs look as tho’ they were in the stocks.’

Ces grands cannons où, comme en des entraves, On met tous les matins ses deux jambes esclaves. --_Ecole des Maris_, i, I.

cf. Pepys, 24 May, 1660: ‘Up, and made myself as fine as I could, with the linen stockings on and wide canons that I bought the other day at Hague.’

p. 403 _The Count of Gabalis_. The Abbé Montfaucon de Villars (1635-73) had wittily satirized the philosophy of Paracelsus and the Rosicrucians and their belief in sylphs and elemental spirits in his _Le Comte de Gabalis ou Entretiens sur les sciences secrètes_ (Paris, 1670), which was ‘done into English by P.A. _Gent_.’ (P. Ayres), as _Count Gabalis, or the Extravagant Mysteries of the Cabalists, exposed in five pleasant discourses_ (1680), and thus included in Vol. II of Bentley and Magnes, _Modern Novels_ (1681-93), twelve volumes. It will be remembered that Pope was indebted to a hint from _Gabalis_ for his aerial machinery in _The Rape of the Lock_.

p. 406 _Iredonozar_. This name is from Gonsales’ (Bishop Godwin) _The Man in the Moone_: ‘The first ancestor of this great monarch [the Emperor of the Moon] came out of the earth ... and his name being Irdonozur, his heirs, unto this day, do all assume unto themselves that name.’

p. 407 _Harlequin comes out on the Stage_. This comic scene, _Du Desespoir_, which affords such opportunity for the mime, although not given in the first edition of Le _Théâtre Italien_, finds a place in the best edition (1721). The editor has appended the following note: ‘Ceux qui ont vù cette Scène, conviendront que c’est une des plus plaisantes qu’on ait jamais jouée sur le _Théâtre Italien_.’

p. 408 _a Man that laugh’d to death_. This is the traditional end of l’unico Aretino. On hearing some ribald jest he is said to have flung himself back in a chair and expired of sheer merriment. Later days elucidate his fate by declaring that overbalancing himself he broke his neck on the marble pavement. Sir Thomas Urquhart, the glorious translator of Rabelais, is reported to have died of laughter on hearing of the Restoration of Charles II.

p. 410 _Boremes_. A corrupt form (perhaps only in these passages) of bouts-rimés. ‘They were a List of Words that rhyme to one another drawn up by another Hand and given to a Poet, who was to make a Poem to the Rhymes in the same Order that they were placed on the List.’ --Addison, _Spectator_, No. 60 (1711).

p. 413 _Flute Doux_. Should be flute-douce. ‘The highest pitched variety of the old flute with a mouthpiece.’--Murray, _N.E.D_. cf. Etheredge, _The Man of Mode_ (1676), ii, II: ‘Nothing but flute doux and French hoyboys.’

p. 420 _a Curtain or Hangings_. When several scenes had to be set one behind another the device of using a curtain or tapestries was common. cf. Dryden and Lee’s _The Duke of Guise_ (1682), Act v, where after four or five sets ‘the scene draws, behind it a traverse’. We then have the Duke’s assassination--he shrieks out some four lines and dies, whereon ’.he traverse is drawn’. The traverse was merely a pair of curtains on a rod. All the grooves were in use for the scenes already set.

p. 422 _Harpsicals_. A common corruption of harpsicords on the analogy of virginals. The two 4tos, 1687 and 1688, and the 1711 edition all read ’.arpsicals’. 1724 gives ‘Harpsicords’.

p. 435 _Ebula_. The Ebelus was a jewel of great price bestowed upon Gonzales by Irdonozur. He tells us that: ‘to say nothing of the colour (the Lunar whereof I made mention before, which notwithstanding is so incredibly beautiful, as a man should travel 1000 Leagues to behold it), the shape is somewhat flat of the breadth of a _Pistolett_, and twice the thickness. The one side of this, which is somewhat more Orient of Colour than the other, being clapt to the bare skin of a man, in any part of his body, it taketh away from it all weight or ponderousness; whereas turning the other side it addeth force unto the attractive beams of the Earth, either in this world or that, and maketh the body to weigh half so much again as it did before.’

p. 446 _Guzman of Salamanca_. A Guzman was a common term of abuse. The first English translation (by James Mabbe) of Aleman’s famous romance is, indeed, entitled _The Rogue_, and it had as running title _The Spanish Rogue_. There is a novel by George Fidge entitled _The English Gusman; or, The History of that Unparalleled Thief James Hind_ (1652, 4to). Salamanca had an unsavoury reputation owing to the fictions of Titus Gates. cf. _The Rover_ (II), Act v: ‘Guzman Medicines.’

p. 446 _Signum Mallis_. This curious phrase, which is both distorted cant and canine, would appear to mean ‘your rogue’s phiz’.

p. 446 _Friskin_. ‘A gay lively person.’--Halliwell.

p. 446 _Jack of Lent_. A puppet set up to be thrown at; in modern parlance, ‘Aunt Sally’. Hence a butt for all.

p. 451 _Spitchcock’d_. To spitchcock is to split lengthwise, as an eel, and then broil.

p. 458 _Stentraphon_. A megaphone.

p. 460 _They fight at Barriers_. A comic combat between Harlequin and Scaramouch forms one of the traditional incidents (_Lazzi_), which occur repeatedly in the Italian and Franco-Italian farces. cf. Dryden’s Epilogue spoken by Hart when _The Silent Woman_ was played before the University of Oxford in 1673:--

Th’ _Italian_ Merry-Andrews took their place, And quite debauch’d the Stage with lewd Grimace: Instead of Wit and Humours, your Delight Was there to see two Hobby-horses fight, Stout _Scaramoucha_ with Rush Lance rode in, And ran a Tilt at Centaure _Arlequin_.

End of Project Gutenberg’s The Works of Aphra Behn, Vol. III, by Aphra Behn