The Works of Christopher Marlowe Volume III Part 38

[547] This word is found in Chapman, Harrington, and others.

[548] So MS.--Old eds. "often."

[549] Groningen was taken by Maurice of Na.s.sau. Vere was present at the siege.

[550] The expression "take in" (in the sense of "conquer, capture") is very common.

[551] An English expedition, under Sir John Norris, was sent to Brittany in 1594.

[552] This line and the next are found only in Isham copy and MS.

IN PAULUM. XLI.

By lawful mart, and by unlawful stealth, Paulus, in spite of envy, fortunate, Derives out of the ocean so much wealth, As he may well maintain a lord's estate: But on the land a little gulf there is, Wherein he drowneth all this[553] wealth of his.

FOOTNOTES:

[553] So Isham copy--Eds. A, B, C "the."--MS. "ye."

IN LYc.u.m. XLII.

Lycus, which lately is to Venice gone, Shall, if he do return, gain three for one;[554]

But, ten to one, his knowledge and his wit Will not be better'd or increas'd a whit.

FOOTNOTES:

[554] When a person started on a long or dangerous voyage it was customary to deposit--or, as it was called, "put out"--a sum of money, on condition of receiving at his return a high rate of interest. If he failed to return the money was lost. There are frequent allusions in old authors to this practice.

IN PUBLIUM. XLIII.

Publius, a[555] student at the Common-Law, Oft leaves his books, and, for his recreation, To Paris-garden[556] doth himself withdraw; Where he is ravish'd with such delectation, As down amongst the bears and dogs he goes; Where, whilst he skipping cries, "To head, to head,"[557]

His satin doublet and his velvet hose Are all with spittle from above be-spread; Then is he like his father's country hall, Stinking of dogs, and muted[558] all with hawks; 10 And rightly too on him this filth doth fall, Which for such filthy sports his books forsakes, Leaving old Ployden, Dyer, and Brooke alone, To see old Harry Hunkes and Sacarson.[559]

FOOTNOTES:

[555] So MS.--Not in old eds.

[556] The Bear-Garden in the Bankside, Southwark.

[557] In _t.i.tus Andronicus_, v. 1, we have the expression "to fight at head" ("As true a dog as ever fought _at head_"). "To fly at the head"

was equivalent to "attack;" and in Nares' _Glossary_ (ed. Halliwell) the expression "run on head," in the sense of incite, is quoted from Heywood's _Spider and Flie_, 1556.

[558] Covered with hawks' dung.

[559] "Harry Hunkes" and "Sacarson" were the names of two famous bears (probably named after their keepers). Slender boasted to Anne Page, "I have seen Sackarson loose twenty times and have taken him by the chain."

IN SYLLAM. XLIV.

When I this proposition had defended, "A coward cannot be an honest man,"

Thou, Sylla, seem'st forthwith to be offended, And hold'st[560] the contrary, and swear'st[561] he can.

But when I tell thee that he will forsake His dearest friend in peril of his life, Thou then art chang'd, and say'st thou didst mistake; And so we end our argument and strife: Yet I think oft, and think I think aright, Thy argument argues thou wilt not fight. 10

FOOTNOTES:

[560] So MS.--Old eds. "holds."

[561] So MS.--Old eds. "swears."

IN DAc.u.m. XLV.

Dacus,[562] with some good colour and pretence, Terms his love's beauty "silent eloquence;"

For she doth lay more colours on her face Than ever Tully us'd his speech to grace.

FOOTNOTES:

[562] Dyce shows that Samuel Daniel is meant by Dacus (who has already been ridiculed in _Ep._ x.x.x.). In Daniel's _Complaint of Rosamond_ (1592) are the lines:--

"Ah, beauty, syren, faire enchanting good, Sweet _silent rhetorique_ of perswading eyes, _Dumb eloquence_, whose power doth move the blood More than the words or wisedome of the wise," &c.

Perhaps there is an allusion to this epigram in Marston's fourth satire:--

"What, shall not Rosamond or Gaveston Ope their sweet lips without detraction?

But must our modern critticks envious eye Seeme thus to quote some grosse deformity, Where art not error s.h.i.+neth in their stile, But error and no art doth thee beguile?"

IN MARc.u.m. XLVI.