Chapter 56

Enter _Surelove_ weeping, _Well._ _Chrisante_, Mrs. _Flirt_, _Ranter_ as before, _Down._ _Haz._ _Friend._ _Booz._ _Brag_.

_Well._ How long, Madam, have you heard the News of Col. _Surelove’s_ Death?

_Sure._ By a Vessel last Night arriv’d.

_Well._ You shou’d not grieve when Men so old pay their debt to Nature; you are too fair not to have been reserved for some young Lover’s Arms.

_Haz._ I dare not speak,--but give me leave to hope.

_Sure._ The way to oblige me to’t, is never more to speak to me of Love till I shall think it fit-- [_Wellman_ speaks to _Down._

_Well._ Come, you shan’t grant it--’tis a hopeful Youth.

_Down._ You are too much my Friend to be denied--_Chrisante_, do you love _Friendly_? nay, do not blush--till you have done a fault, your loving him is none--Here, take her, young Man, and with her all my Fortune--when I am dead, Sirrah--not a Groat before--unless to buy ye Baby-Clouts.

_Friend._ He merits not this Treasure, Sir, can wish for more.

Enter _Daring_, _Fearless_, _Dunce_, Officers, and the rest, they meet _Well._ and _Down._ who embrace ‘em. _Dull._ and _Tim._ stand.

_Dar._ Can you forgive us, Sir, our Disobedience?

_Well._ Your offering Peace while yet you might command it, has made such kind impressions on us, that now you may command your Propositions; your Pardons are all seal’d and new Commissions.

_Dar._ I’m not ambitious of that Honour, Sir, but in obedience will accept your Goodness; but, Sir, I hear I have a young Friend taken Prisoner by Captain _Hazard_, whom I intreat you will render me.

_Haz._ Sir--here I resign him to you. [Gives him _Ran._

_Ran._ Faith, General, you left me but scurvily in Battle.

_Dar._ That was to see how well you cou’d shift for your self; now I find you can bear the brunt of a Campaign, you are a fit Wife for a Soldier.

_All._ A Woman--_Ranter_--

_Haz._ Faith, Madam, I should have given you kinder Quarter, if I had known my happiness.

_Flirt._ I have an humble Petition to you, Sir.

_Sure._ In which we all join.

_Flirt._ An’t please you, Sir, Mr. _Dunce_ has long made Love to me, and on promise of Marriage has-- [Simpers.

_Down._ What has he, Mistress? What has he, Mrs. _Flirt_?

_Flirt._ Only been a little familiar with my Person, Sir--

_Well._ Do you hear, Parson--you must marry Mrs. _Flirt_.

_Dun._ How, Sir, a Man of my Coat, Sir, marry a Brandy-monger?

_Well._ Of your Calling you mean, a Farrier and no Parson-- [Aside to him. She’ll leave her Trade, and spark it above all the Ladies at Church: No more--take her, and make her honest.

Enter _Whim._ and _Whiff_ stript.

_Chris._ Bless me, what have we here?

_Whim._ Why, an’t like your Honours, we were taken by the Enemy--hah, _Daring_ here, and _Fearless_?

_Fear._ How now, Gentlemen, were not you two condemn’d to be shot for running from your Colours.

_Down._ From your Colours!

_Fear._ Yes, Sir, they were both listed in my Regiment.

_Down._ Then we must hang them for deserting us.

_Whim._ So, out of the Frying Pan--you know where, Brother--

_Whiff._ Ay, he that’s born to be hang’d--you know the rest; a Pox of these Proverbs.

_Well._ I know ye well--you’re all rank Cowards; but once more we forgive ye; your Places in the Council shall be supplied by these Gentlemen of Sense and Honour. The Governor when he comes, shall find the Country in better hands than he expects to find it.

_Whim._ A very fair Discharge.

_Whiff._ I’m glad ‘tis no worse, I’ll home to my _Nancy_.

_Dull._ Have we expos’d our Lives and Fortunes for this?

_Tim._ Gad zoors, I never thriv’d since I was a Statesman, left Planting, and fell to promising and lying; I’ll to my old Trade again, bask under the shade of my own Tobacco, and drink my Punch in Peace.

_Well._ _Come, my brave Youths, let all our Forces meet, To make this Country happy, rich and great; Let scanted _Europe_ see that we enjoy Safer Repose, and larger Worlds, than they._

EPILOGUE.

Gallants, you have so long been absent hence, That you have almost cool’d your Diligence: For while we study or revive a Play, You like good Husbands in the Country stay, There frugally wear out your Summer-Suit, } And in Frize Jerkin after Beagles toot, } Or in Mountero Caps at Fel-fares shoot: } Nay, some are so obdurate in their Sin, That they swear never to come up again; But all their charge of Clothes and Treat retrench. To Gloves and Stockings for some Country-Wench. Even they who in the Summer had Mishaps, Send up to Town for Physick, for their Claps. The Ladies too, are as resolv’d as they, } And having Debts unknown to them, they stay, } And with the gain of Cheese and Poultry pay. } Even in their Visits, they from Banquets fall, To entertain with Nuts and Bottle-Ale; And in Discourse with secrecy report Stale News that past a Twelve-month since at Court. Those of them who are most refin’d and gay, Now learn the Songs of the last Summer’s Play: While the young Daughter does in private mourn Her Love’s in Town, and hopes not to return. These Country-Grievances too great appear; But, cruel Ladies, we have greater here; You come not sharp, as you were wont, to Plays; But only on the first and second Days: This made our Poet in his Visits look What new strange Courses for your Time you took; And to his great regret he found too soon, _Basset_ and _Ombre_ spent the Afternoon: So that we cannot hope to see you here Before the little Net-work Purse be clear. Suppose you should have luck:-- Yet sitting up so late as I am told, You’ll lose in Beauty what you win in Gold; And what each Lady of another says, Will make you new Lampoons, and us new Plays.

* * * * * * * * *

NOTES: The Widow Ranter

[Transcriber’s Note:

The Notes in the printed text give only page and line numbers. Act-and-scene designations shown between +marks+ have been added by the transcriber. Labels such as “Scene IIa” refer to points where the scene description changes without a new scene number.]

NOTES ON THE TEXT.

+Dedication+

p. 221, l. 1 _To the much Honoured._ This Dedicatory Epistle is only found in the 4to 1690.

+Prologue+

p. 223, l. 13 _Cruse._ Misprinted ‘Cause’ in 4to 1690 and in 1724. _The True Widow_ (4to 1679), and the edition of 1720 (Shadwell’s collected works) give ‘Cruse.’ All editions of Dryden until Christie misread ‘Cause’.

p. 223, l. 16 _Poll._ 4to 1690 _Pole_. 1724 _Pool_. _The True Widow_ (4to 1679) and edition of 1720 both give ‘Poll’.

+Dramatis Personæ+

p. 225 _Dramatis Personæ._ I have added to the list ‘_Cavaro_, an _Indian_, Confidant to the _Indian King_. _Jack_, a Sea-Boy. An Officer; Messenger; Seaman; 2nd Seaman; A Highlander. _Jenny_, Maid to _Widow Ranter_. _Nell_, Maid at the Inn. _Anaria_, Confidante to the _Indian Queen_. Maid to Madam _Surelove_. Bailiffs, Rabble, Negroes. I have supplied the name _Jeffery_ to the Coachman from I, iii (p. 239), and also designated Mrs. _Flirt_ ‘a Tapstress’. _Daring_, which name is indifferently spelt in the 4to 1690 _Dareing_ or _Daring_, I have given consistently throughout. For _Chrisante_ 1724 sometimes has _Crisante_. To the Scene I have added ‘_James-Town_, and the surrounding Country.’

+ACT I: Scene i+

p. 226, l. 3 _Jack._ I have inserted this name from _infra_ l. 20.

p. 226, l. 17 _Enter Flirt and Nell._ I have supplied this necessary entrance.

p. 227, l. 9 _Exit Nell._ I have inserted this exit. Nell’s entrance is marked later and she is certainly not on the stage during the ensuing scene.

p. 227, l. 27 _I._ Omitted in 4to 1690.

p. 227, l. 30 _being._ ‘was’ 4to 1690.

p. 227, l. 35 _Cully in._ ‘Cully’ as a verb. 1724 ‘Cully to’. ‘Cully’ as a substantive.

p. 228, l. 10 _any thing._ 4to 1690 ‘any thing any thing’.

p. 229, l. 1 _fail, thou._ 4to 1690 ‘fail, there thou’. This insertion of ‘there’ interrupts the sense.

p. 229, l. 26 _wherever._ 1724 ‘whenever’.

p. 230, l. 1 _whom._ 4to 1690 ‘_which_’.

p. 230, l. 34 _stand._ 4to 1690 ‘_stands_’.

p. 231, l. 24 _Smoke._ 1724 ‘Tobacco’.

p. 231, l. 28 _Exit Nell._ I have supplied this stage direction.

p. 231, l. 34 _paulter._ 1724 ‘paultry’. _Vide_ critical note on this passage.

p. 232, l. 8 _and Nell with drink, pipes, etc._ I have supplied these words.

p. 232, l. 19 _take._ 4to 1690 ‘took’.

p. 232, l. 34 _an._ 4to 1690 ‘on’.

p. 233, l. 28 _the Bob._ 1724 ‘a Bob’.

p. 234, l. 28 _Guinea._ 4to 1690 ‘Guinia’.

+ACT I: Scene ii+

p. 235, l. 17 _The Council-Table._ I have supplied this locale.

p. 235, l. 22 _give._ My own emendation: previous editions ‘be’.

p. 236, l. 12 _make._ 4to 1690 ‘have’.

p. 237, l. 6 _Down. I say._ 4to 1690 wrongly gives this speech to Dunce.

p. 238, l. 25 _If we wou’d._ 1724 ‘If he wou’d’.

+ACT I: Scene iii+

p. 239, l. 25 _Jeffery._ I have supplied the name here from the following line.

p. 239, l. 31 _Exit._ Not noted in former editions.

p. 240, l. 2 _of a Baboon._ 4to 1690 ‘of Baboone’.

p. 240, l. 5 _Tumbler._ 4to 1690 misprints ‘Fumbler’.

p. 241, ll. 15, 18 _Pound._ 1724 ‘Pounds’.

p. 242, l. 32 _Sure. reads._ 4to 1690 and 1724 ‘she reads’, which is ambiguous.

p. 243, l. 16 _de la guerre._ 4to 1690 ‘de la gare’.

p. 244, l. 17 _They join with Surelove._ Only in 4to 1690.

+ACT II: Scene i+

p. 245, l. 21 _have Charms._ 1724 ‘have those Charms’.

p. 245, l. 28 _Mediator._ 1724 ‘Meditator’.

p. 245, l. 32 _would make me lay the Conqueror._ 1724 ‘would lay me a Conqueror’.

p. 248, l. 12 _knip._ 1724 mis-spells this rare word ‘nip’.

+ACT II: Scene ii+

p. 252, l. 36 _A Scots Dance._ 1724 ‘A Scotch Dance.’

p. 253, l. 28 _Billet-Douxs._ 4to 1690 ‘Billet-Deaxs’.

p. 254, l. 12 _Drinking all this while sometimes._ Only in 4to 1690.

+ACT II: Scene iii+

p. 255, l. 16 _Pulls a Bottle._ 4to 1690 ‘Pulls out a Bottle’.

p. 255, l. 28 _Drinks._ Only in 4to 1690.

p. 256, l. 31 _durst._ 4to 1690 ‘darst’.

+ACT II: Scene iv+

p. 258, l. 26 _Enter Brag._ Both 4to 1690 and 1724 have ‘Enter a Messenger’, and give l. 27 speech-prefix ‘Mes.’ Both, however, give the next speech he speaks (l. 33) to Brag and have later ‘Exit Brag.’

p. 259, l. 5 _Whimsey._ Both 4to 1690 and 1724 here and elsewhere cut the name down to ‘Whim.’

p. 259, l. 9 _wish’d that the Plot._ 4to 1690 ‘wish’d the Plot’.

p. 261, l. 17 _care._ 1724 ‘ear’.

p. 262, l. 25 _Wellman’s Guards._ 4to 1690 ‘Wellman, his Guards’. But Wellman has not left the stage. The comma printed by 1690 is probably a mistake and we should read ‘Wellman his Guards’.

p. 263, l. 24 _Exit._ 4to 1690 gives no direction. 1724 has ‘Exeunt.’ But Timorous is left alone on the stage.

+ACT III: Scene i+

p. 264, l. 1 _hollow._ 4to 1690 ‘hallow’.

p. 266, l. 15 _That._ Omitted in 4to 1690.

p. 270, l. 8 _Exeunt._ 4to 1690 gives no stage direction here.

+ACT III: Scene ii+

p. 272, l. 28 _’.is a tittle of the D-- breed._ [sic] 4to 1690. 1724 ‘’.is little of the D-- breed’.

p. 274, l. 1 _haste with._ 1724 ‘haste you with’.

+ACT III: Scene iia+

p. 275, l. 28 _stands and stares a while._ 1724 ‘stands a while and stares’.

p. 277, l. 28 _shall be._ 4to 1690 ‘shall not be’.

+ACT IV: Scene i+

p. 279, l. 12 _Priests._ 4to 1690 ‘Priest.’

+ACT IV: Scene ii+

p. 289. l. 10 _draw._ 4to 1690 ‘draws’, but not as a stage direction.

+ACT IV: Scene iii+

p. 289, l. 21 _Scene III._ I have numbered this scene.

p. 290, l. 14 _Daring, looks._ 4to 1690 ‘Daring, and looks’.

p. 290, l. 31 _devote._ 1724 ‘divorce’, a bad error.

p. 290, l. 33 _the fittest._ 1724 ‘a fit’.

+ACT V: Scene i+

p. 295, l. 9 _Exeunt._ 4to 1690 ‘Ex.’ 1724 ‘Exit’.

p. 296, l. 8 _Exeunt._ I have supplied this necessary stage direction.

p. 296, l. 11 _beat._ 4to 1690 ‘beating’.

p. 296, l. 13 _fight, lay._ 4to 1690 ‘fight, so that they lay’.

p. 296, l. 22 _All go out._ Previous editions ‘Goes out.’

+ACT V: Scene ii+

p. 296, l. 23 _Scene II._ I have numbered this scene.

p. 298, l. 26 _All Exeunt._ I have added this direction.

+ACT V: Scene iii+

p. 298, l. 27 _Scene III._ I have numbered this scene.

p. 299, l. 12 _submission._ 1724 ‘Admission’.

p. 299, l. 17 _Pauwomungian._ 4to 1690 ‘Pauwmungian’.

p. 300, l. 2 _After Noise._ 1724 omits ‘After’.

p. 303, l. 16 _They go out._ Previous editions ‘Goes out.’

+ACT V: Scene iv+

p. 303, l. 23 _Scene IV. Changes to another part of the Wood._ All previous editions ‘Scene changes to a Wood.’

p. 304, l. 21 _are._ 4to 1690 ‘is’.

p. 305, l. 12 _go out._ 4to 1690 ‘goes out’.

p. 305, l. 21 _Whimsey._ In former editions abbreviated to ‘Whim.’

p. 306, l. 9 _Exeunt._ Former editions ‘Exit Dunce.’

+ACT V: Scene v+

p. 306, l. 10 _Scene V._ I have numbered this scene.

p. 306, l. 18 _Lover’s._ 4to 1690 ‘Love’s’.

p. 306, l. 20 _more._ 1724 omits.

p. 306, l. 32 _and the rest._ Previous editions ‘and officers’, but plainly all the characters of the preceding scene assemble.

p. 307, l. 21 _What has he, Mistress?_ 4to 1690 omits.

+Epilogue+

p. 309, l. 1 _Epilogue._ It will be noted that with some trifling alterations this is the Prologue to _Abdelazar_.

NOTES: CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY.

+Dedication+

p. 221 _Madam Welldon._ This Dedicatory Epistle only appears in 4to 1690. The lady doubtless belonged to a branch of the famous Weldons, of Swanscombe, Kent, and is probably to be identified with Madam Lucy Weldon, _née_ Necton, the wife of Colonel George Weldon.

p. 222 _G. J._ Almost certainly George Jenkins, of whom we have two copies of complimentary verse prefixed to _La Montre, or The Lover’s Watch_. _vide_ Vol. VI, pp. 9-11.

+Prologue+

p. 223 _Prologue._ This prologue was first spoken to Shadwell’s comedy, _The True Widow_, produced at the Duke’s Theatre, Dorset Garden, 21 March, 1678, and it is printed with all copies of that play. It was, no doubt, used on the present occasion by permission of Dryden. It will be noticed that the Epilogue to _The Widow Ranter_ is the Prologue to _Abdelazar_.

p. 223 _Muss._ A scramble. cf. _Antony and Cleopatra_, iii, 13:--

... of late, when I cried ‘Ho!’ Like boys unto a muss, Kings would start forth, And cry ‘Your will?’

+ACT I: Scene i+

p. 226 _a Cogue of Brandy._ ‘Cogue’ is a Kentish word. _Kent Glossary_ (1887), has ‘cogue; a dram of brandy’. and Wright, _Eng. Dial. Dic._, who gives ‘cogue’ as exclusively Kentish, assigns precisely the same meaning. D’Urfey, however, _Pills to Purge Melancholy_ (1719), vi, p. 351, has ‘a cogue of good ale’.

p. 227 _Groom Porter’s._ The Groom Porter was an officer of the Royal Household. This post was abolished in the reign of George III. From the sixteenth century he regulated all matters connected with card playing, gambling, and dicing within the precincts of the court. He even furnished cards and dice, and settled disputes concerning the game.

p. 227 _high and low Flats and Bars._ i.e. Doctored dice. cf. _Chamber’s Cycl. Supp._ (1753), ‘Barr Dice, a species of false dice so formed that they will not easily lie on certain sides.’ This cant term is found as early as 1545. cf. Ascham’s _Toxophilus_. Flats are also cards. --(Grose, and J. H. Vaux, _Flash Dic._)

p. 231 _shier._ Schire = clear; pure. A Gaelic word. cf. Herd, _Scotch Songs_ (2nd ed. 1776), 11, _Gloss._--’We call clear liquor shire’.

p. 231 _paulter._ Mean; worthless. This rare form is perhaps found only here. The _N.E.D._ does not give it. But we have ‘paltering’ and ‘palterly’.

p. 232 _Hoggerds._ A rare word, being obsolete for Hogherd. cf. De Parc’s _Francion_, iv, 3 (tr. 1655): ‘Our Regent (who had in him no more humanity than a Hoggard).’

p. 233 _trusting for old Oliver’s Funeral broke._ The obsequies of Oliver Cromwell, originally fixed for 9 November, 1658, owing to the extraordinary magnificence of the preparations were not performed until 23 November. For many days his waxen effigy, dressed in robes of state, was exhibited at Somerset House. The expenses totalled £60,000, and it was a public scandal that a great part of this wanton and wasteful extravagance remained unpaid, to the undoing of the undertakers. On 25 August, 1659, in the _Kalendar of State Affairs (Domestic)_, the following occurs: ‘Report by the Committee appointed by Parliament to examine what is due for mourning for the late General Cromwell, that on perusal of the bills signed by Cromwell’s servants, and of the account of Abr. Barrington, his auditor, it appears that £19,303 0_s._ 11_d._ is still due and unpaid for mourning. Also that Nath. Waterhouse, servant to Rich. Cromwell, should be authorized to see the persons in a list [missing] annexed for that mourning. Col. Rich to make this report. Schedule of debts due to 11 mercers and drapers for the funeral of the late General Cromwell. Total £19,303 0_s._ 11_d._’

p. 233 _they bear the Bob._ i.e. They join in the chorus or refrain.

+ACT I: Scene iii+

p. 240 _shoveing the Tumbler._ ‘Thieves’ cant for being whipped at the cart’s tail.’ --(Grose). Tumbler, perhaps = tumbril.

p. 240 _lifting._ Filching. This slang term is very old and common.

p. 240 _filing the Cly._ ‘Thieves’ cant for picking a pocket.’ --(Grose). ‘Cly,’ a pocket.

p. 240 _Regalio._ An obsolete and, indeed, erroneous form of ‘regalo’, an elegant repast; choice food or drink. The word is very common, and the spelling, ‘Regalio’, is frequent in the second half of the seventeenth century.

+ACT II: Scene i+

p. 246 _Anticks._ Quaint fantastic measures. A favourite word with Mrs. Behn.

p. 248 _to knip._ To clip. (Dutch ‘knippen’, to cut, snip.) _N.E.D._ neglecting this passage, only gives the meaning as to bite or crop (grass) of cattle. It appends two quotations having this sense--the one from Dunbar’s _Poems_ (1500-20), the second from Douglas, _Aeneis_ (1513).

+ACT II: Scene ii+

p. 252 _Mundungus._ Shag, or rank tobacco. cf. Sir R. Howard, _The Committee_ (folio, 1665), ii: ‘A Pipe of the worst Mundungus.’ Shadwell, _The Humourists_ (1671), iii, speaks with contempt of ‘bottle ale ... and a pipe of Mundungus.’ Johnson in his _Dictionary_ (1755) has: ‘Mundungus. Stinking tobacco. A cant word.’

+ACT II: Scene iv+

p. 261 _a Bob._ cf. Prologue, _The False Count_ (Vol. III, p. 100), ‘dry bobs,’ and note on that passage, pp. 479-80.

p. 263 _barbicu._ Better ‘barbecu’. An Americanism meaning to broil over live coals. Beverley, _Virginia_, III, xii (1705), thus explains it: ‘Broyling ... at some distance above the live coals [the Indians] & we from them call Barbecuing.’ cf. Pope, _Imitations of Horace_, Sat. ii, 25, 26:--

_Oldfield_ with more than Harpy throat endued Cries, ‘Send me, Gods, a whole hog barbecued!’

+ACT III: Scene i+

p. 264 _De-Wit._ ‘To De-Wit’ = to lynch. The word often occurs; it is derived from the deaths of John and Cornelius De Wit, opponents of William III (when stadt-holder). They were murdered by a mob in 1672. cf. ‘to godfrey’ = to strangle, from the alleged murder of Sir Edmond Bury Godfrey[1] in 1678. Crowne, _Sir Courtly Nice_ (1685), II, ii, has: ‘Don’t throttle me, don’t _Godfrey_ me.’ The _N.E.D._ fails to include ‘to godfrey’.

[Footnote 1: It is now pretty certainly established that this melancholist committed suicide.]

p. 265 _Dalton’s Country-Justice._ A well-known work by the celebrated lawyer Michael Dalton (1554-1620). It was long held in great repute and regarded as supremely authoritative. On a page of advertisements (Some Books printed this Year 1677. For _John Amery_, at the _Peacock_, against St. _Dunstan’s Church_ in _Fleet-street_) in the _Rover I_ (4to 1677), occurs ‘_The Country Justice_, Containing the practice of the Justices of the Peace, in and out of their Sessions, with an Abridgment of all Statutes relating thereunto to this present Year 1677. By _Michael Dalton_ Esq; _Fol._ price bound 12s.’ cf. _The Plain Dealer_ (4to 1676), III, i:

_Widow Blackacre._ Let’s see Dalton, Hughs, Shepherd, Wingate. _Bookseller’s Boy._ We have no law books.

p. 266 _a Cagg._ Now corrupted to ‘Keg’, a small cask. cf. _Cotgrave_ (1611), ‘Encacquer’ to put in to a little barrell or cag. _N.E.D._ quotes this present passage.

+ACT IV: Scene i+

p. 279 _Agah Yerkin._ The various dictionaries and vocabularies of the Indian languages I have had resource to give none of these words. There is, however, so great a confusion of Indian jargons and dialects that they cannot be pronounced fictitious. Yet Mrs. Behn would hardly, even if she had learned the language, have retained any exact knowledge of such barbaric tongues, and one may almost certainly say that these cries and incantations are her own composition. Amongst other authorities I have consulted _The Voyage of Robert Dudley ... to the West Indies_, 1594-5, edited by G. F. Warner for the Hakluyt Society (1889). Dr. Brinton’s _Arawack Language of Guiana_, an exhaustive monograph, (Philadelphia, 1871.) M. M. Crevaux, Sagot, L. Adam, _Grammaires et Vocabulaires roucouyenne, arrouague, piapoco, et d’autres Langues de la Région des Guyanes_ (Paris, 1882). _Relation des Missions ... dans les Isles et dans la terre ferme de l’.merique Meridionale ... avec une introduction à la langue des Gabilis Sauvages_ (Paris, 1655), by Father Pierre Pelleprat, S.J.

p. 279 _Quiocto._ Mrs. Behn probably meant to spell this word ‘Quiyoughcto’, the sound being identical. There is in Virginia a river which in the seventeenth century was called the ‘Quiyough’. The inhabitants of the banks of this river had mysterious or supernatural properties ascribed to them. _In the Voyages & Discoveries of Capt. John Smith_ (1606), we have: ‘They thinke that their Werowanees and Priests, which they also esteeme Quiyoughcosughes, when they are dead, doe goe beyond the mountaines towards the setting of the sun.’ No doubt Mrs. Behn knew this passage. I owe the above interesting note to the kindness of my friend Mr. Gosse.

+ACT IV: Scene ii+

p. 284 _Cadees._ The original form of ‘cadets’ from the French pronunciation. _N.E.D._ cites this passage as the earliest occurence of the word.

+ACT V: Scene i+

p. 293 _Cadeeing._ The verb ‘to cadee’ is only found here and may be a nonce phrase. _N.E.D._ does not include it.

p. 293 _to top Tobacco._ i.e. to cultivate our tobacco plantations.

p. 295 _Flambeaux._ Mrs. Behn (or, haply, George Jenkins, the first editor of _The Widow Ranter_), here uses the ordinary form ‘flambeaux’ as a plural. In _The Emperor of the Moon_ (Vol. III, p. 418), she writes ‘a Flambeaux’. In addition to the example from Herbert which I give in my note (Vol. III, p. 475), I find a plural ‘Flambeaux’s’ used by Mrs. Manley. cf. _Secret Memoirs & Manners of Several Persons of Quality of Both Sexes from the New Atalantis_ (1709, the Second Edition), Vol. I, p. 88: ‘She but thinks of an expensive Funeral, white Flambeaux’s, Chariots, Horses, Streamers, and a Train of Mourners.’

+ACT V: Scene iii+

p. 302 _Starters._ i.e. cowards. cf. _The Double Marriage_ (Fletcher and Massinger, folio 1647), II, i:--

_Master._ We’ll spare her our main-top-sail; She shall not look us long, we are no starters. Down with the fore-sail too! we’ll spoom before her.

cf. also _The Lucky Chance_, I, i: ‘I am no Starter.’ (Vol. III, p. 193), and note on that passage, p. 485.

p. 302 _rubbing off._ Very common slang still in use for ‘making off’, ‘clearing out’, cf. Shadwell’s _The Virtuoso_ (1676), Act V, sc. iii, the Masquerade, where Sir Samuel Harty says: ‘Who held my sword while I danc’d? ... A curse on him! he’s rubb’d off with it!’

p. 303 _Dullman and Timorous._ No entrance has been marked for these two characters, and I have not ventured to insert one owing to the fact that this fifth Act has been so cut (e.g. the omission of the Indian King’s ghost, as noted by Jenkins in the Dedication) and mutilated that it would be perilous to make any insertion or alteration here as the copy now stands. We may suppose these two coward justices to have rushed on in one of the many mêlées.

+ACT V: Scene iv+

p. 304 _Hannibal._ Hannibal, when betrayed by Prusias, King of Bithynia, at whose court he had taken refuge, poisoned himself rather than fall into the hands of the Romans.

+Epilogue+

p. 309 _Epilogue._ This Epilogue is, it will be noted, almost precisely the same as the Prologue to _Abdelazer_. In line 32 we have ‘Basset’ in place of the obsolescent game, ‘Beasts’ (damn’d Beasts). Basset, which resembled Faro, was first played at Venice. cf. Evelyn’s _Diary_, 1645 (Ascension Week at Venice): ‘We went to the Chetto de San Felice, to see the noblemen and their ladies at basset, a game at cards which is much used.’ It became immensely popular in England. Evelyn, in his famous description of ‘the inexpressible luxury and profaneness, gaming, and all dissoluteness’ on the Sunday se’nnight before the death of Charles II, specially noted that ‘about twenty of the great courtiers and other dissolute persons were at Basset round a large table, a bank of at least 2000 in gold before them.’

* * * * * * * * *

Cross-References from Critical Notes: _The Widow Ranter_

p. 261 _a Bob._ cf. Prologue, _The False Count_ (Vol. III, p. 100), ’.ry bobs,’ and note on that passage, pp. 479-80.

_False Count_ text:

--who will desert me, Because they find no dry bobs on your Party

_False Count_ note:

_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. 302 _Starters._ .... cf. also _The Lucky Chance_, I, i: ‘I am no Starter.’ (Vol. III, p. 193), and note on that passage, p. 485.

_Lucky Chance_ note:

_Starter._ This slang word usually means a milksop, but here it is equivalent to ‘a butterfly’, ‘a weathercock’--a man of changeable disposition. A rare use.

* * * * * * * * *

Errors and Irregularities: The Widow Ranter

In the Notes, alternation between .’ and ‘. at paragraph-end is as printed. The abbreviation “cf.” is always lower-case.

Editor’s Introduction

and she sinks into his arms to die [his ams]

The Widow Ranter

[Points to _Dull._ _Whim._ _Whiff_, and _Tim._ [_Dull,_ _Whim,_] [_correction based on ordinary punctuation of this text_] thy Friend that kept thee Company all the while [taht] [Goes in. / [All exeunt. [_bracket before “All exeunt” added for consistency in e-text_]

Critical Notes

p. 261 _a Bob._ [p 261]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

THE YOUNGER BROTHER;

OR, THE AMOROUS JILT.

ARGUMENT.

Mirtilla, the Amorous Jilt, who had once been attached to George Marteen, the Younger Brother, married for a convenience the clownish Sir Morgan Blunder. Prince Frederick, who had seen and fallen in love with her during a religious ceremony in a Ghent convent, follows her to England. They meet accidentally and she promises him a private interview. George Marteen had recommended a page to Mirtilla, and the lad is his sister Olivia in disguise. Mirtilla, although she falls in love with her ‘smooth-chin’d boy’, receives Prince Frederick, but the house wherein she lodges catches fire that night, and it is George Marteen who, in spite of the fact that he knows his friend the Prince is with her, procures a ladder and rescues the lady at some danger to himself. The Prince is able to escape by the same way, and he then carries Mirtilla to his own lodgings, where feigning to be ill with fatigue and terror she begs her lover to leave her to repose. This is done with the idea of entertaining her page, and on Frederick’s approach she conceals Olivia, who thus creeps off unseen, beneath the train of her gown, whilst she herself retires with the amorous Prince. None the less, Mirtilla still pursues Olivia, and eventually Frederick discovers she is a wanton jilt, as he surprises her leading the page to her bed. He is, however, reconciled when Mirtilla discovering to her amaze that the lad is a woman reveals this fact to the Prince to confound him, but afterwards avowing her frailty, throws herself on Frederick’s generosity. Olivia has been promised by her old father, Sir Rowland Marteen, to Welborn, whom she has never seen. On meeting Welborn she falls in love with him, without knowing who he is, and he, also, whilst ignorant of her name, is soon enamoured of her in turn. Prince Frederick lodges in the same house as Welborn and it is hither that after the fire she attends Mirtilla. Welborn, supposing her to be Mirtilla’s page, out of kindness offers her half his bed, which for fear of arousing suspicion she is bound to accept. She slips away, however, before daybreak, leaving a letter for her companion, by which he learns that the page is none other than the lady whom he had seen in the Mall. Welborn and Olivia are eventually married. George Marteen’s elder brother, Sir Merlin, a boon companion of Sir Morgan Blunder, is a rakehelly dog, who leads a wild town life to the great anger of old Sir Rowland. George, who whilst secretly leading a gay life under the name of Lejere, appears before his father as a demure and sober young prentice, is designed for Lady Youthly, an ancient, toothless crone, palsied and blind with extreme old age, whose grand-daughter, Teresia, is to be married to Sir Rowland himself. George, however, falls in love with Teresia, who is also pursued by Sir Merlin, and finally weds her in despite of his father, brother and the beldame. But Sir Rowland shortly relents and even forgives his eldest son, who has married Diana, the cast off mistress of a gambler, whilst Lady Youthly is left to the tender consolations of her chaplain.

SOURCE.

_The Younger Brother; or, The Amorous Jilt_ was written (in great part at least) by Mrs. Behn a good many years before her death, after which it was brought on the stage under the auspices of Gildon, in 1696; and in the Epistle Dedicatory he expressly says ‘all the Alterations which I made were in the first Act, in removing that old bustle about _Whigg_ and _Tory_ (which was the subject of most of the Second Scene) and placing the Character of a _Rake-hell_ in its room.’ Mrs. Behn probably wrote the first Act sometime about the years 1681-3, when there was a continual ‘rout with Whigging and with Torying’, and afterwards completed the remainder at her leisure. In his notice of this comedy Langbaine’s editor (Gildon), who finds Mirtilla ‘genteel’, says that Astrea took a portion of the plot ‘from a true story of the brother of Col. Henry Martin, and a Lady that must be nameless. See the Novel call’d _Hatige_.’ _Hattige: or, the Amours of the King of Tamaran. A Novel_, by Gabriel de Brémond, was translated in 1680. (12mo. For Simon the African: Amsterdam, [R. Bentley? London.]) A biting satire on Charles II and Lady Castlemaine, the tale is told with considerable spirit and attained great vogue. Another edition was issued in 1683, and under the title _The Beautiful Turk_ it is to be found in _A Select Collection of Novels_ (1720 and 1729), Vol. III. This novel had first appeared anonymously at Cologne in 1676--_Hattigé ou la Belle Turque, qui contient ses amours avec le roi Tamaran_--and Nodier in his _Mélanges d’une petite Bibliothèque_ describes a ‘clef’. Hattigé is, of course, Lady Castlemaine; Tamaran, Charles II; and the handsome Rajeb with whom the lady deceives the monarch, Jack Churchill. It is a wanton little book, and at the time must have been irresistibly piquant. Beyond the likeness between the characters of Mirtilla and Hattigé the novel has, however, little in common with Mrs. Behn’s play. Gildon’s comment is, of course, founded upon the passage in _Oroonoko_ which says: ‘We met on the river with Colonel Martin, a man of great gallantry, wit and goodness, and whom I have celebrated in a character of my new comedy by his own name in memory of so brave a man.’

In D’Urfey’s _The Royalist_, an excellent comedy produced at Dorset Garden, 1682 (4to, 1682), the author introduces a certain damsel Philippa, who, disguised as a page, follows the loyal Sir Charles Kinglove with whom she is enamoured. At the end of the second Act her boy’s clothes involve her in the same predicament as befalls Olivia in