Chapter 18

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

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Cross-References from Critical Notes: _Sir Patient Fancy_

p. 22 _the Bergere._ cf. _The Feign’d Curtezans_ (Vol. II, p. 346): ’.he hour of the Berjere’. and the note on that passage (p. 441).

_Feign’d Curtezans_ note:

_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 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 Bergère_.

p. 32 _Ay and No Man._ cf. Prologue to _The False Count_ (Vol. III, p. 100): ‘By Yea and Nay’. and note on that passage (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 Nobody_, Part II (4to, 1606), is continually asseverating ‘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.

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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 prosephê podas ôkus Achilleus _Each element (“Ton ... prosephê” and “podas ôkus 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_] & _Reparteeé 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 Personæ._ ... 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”_]

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THE AMOROUS PRINCE.

[Transcriber’s Note:

Entrances and bracketed stage directions were printed in _italics_, with proper names in roman type. The overall _italic_ markup has been omitted for readability.]

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. Behn has 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 popular _Philomela; the Lady Fitzwater’s Nightingale_ (1592, 1615, and 1631), wherein Count Philippo employs Giovanni Lutesio to ’.ake experience of his wife’s [Philomela’s] honesty’, rather than was under any obligation to Cervantes’ _Curioso Impertinente, Don Quixote_,