The Works of Christopher Marlowe Volume II Part 81

[284] Old eds. "_Matr._"

[285] So ed. 1598.--Eds. 1612, 1622, "not long ago."

[286] Old eds. "Isabell."

[287] Cf. _Romeo and Juliet_, iii. 2:--"Gallop apace you fiery-footed steeds," &c.

[288] Scene: the neighbourhood of Harwich.

[289] Kennel.

[290] Scene: the neighbourhood of Bristol.

[291] So ed. 1622.--Eds. 1598, 1612, "successfulls."

[292] As in l. 21 Kent determined to "dissemble," I have not changed the prefix of the old eds. Dyce gives the words to _Y. Mor._ Mr. Fleay prints--

"_Kent._ This, Edward, is the ruin, &c.

[_To the Prince._"

[293] Scene: the Abbey of Neath, Glamorgans.h.i.+re.

[294] So ed. 1598.--Omitted in ed. 1612. (Ed. 1622 "thy.")

[295] So eds. 1598, 1612.--Ed. 1622 "_with_ sore" (and so Dyce.)

[296] So eds. 1612, 1622.--Ed. 1598 "open."

[297] Seneca _Thyestes_, 613.

[298] Old form of "yearns."

[299] So old eds. The repet.i.tion of "and these" in the next line is certainly suspicious. Dyce proposed

"For friends hath _hapless_ Edward none but these, And these must die," &c.

Mr. Fleay's suggestion that "these and these" are "the 'hags' and 'Spencer and Baldock,'" seems very questionable.

[300] Mr. Fleay prints this speech as verse:

"Come, come, keep these preachments till you come To th' place appointed. You, and such as you are, Have made wise work in England; will you away."

The lines hobble badly.

[301] Scene: Kenilworth Castle.

[302] Dittany. Cf. Virgil _Aen._ xii. 411-15:--

"Hic Venus, indigno nati concussa dolore, _Dictamnum_ genitrix Cretaea carpit ab Ida, p.u.b.eribus caulem foliis et flore comantum Purpureo: _non illa feris incognita capris Gramina c.u.m tergo volucres hausere sagittae_."

Elizabethan poets are fond of alluding to the virtues of this herb. Cf.

(one of many instances) Peele's _Arraignment of Paris_, iii. 1:--

"And whither wends yon thriveless swain? like to the stricken deer, Seeks he _dictamnum_ for his wound within our forest here."

[303] Rule.

[304] An allusion (as Steevens observed) to Creusa's crown in Euripides'

_Medea_.

[305] Old eds. "vines."

[306] Ed. 1622 "survive" (and so Dyce).

[307] So eds. 1612, 1622.--Omitted in ed. 1598.

[308] Ed. 1612 "_not_ whilst I live."

[309] In old eds. after this line the entrance of Berkeley is marked. I have followed Dyce in giving the words "My lord" to Winchester, and in placing Berkeley's entrance after line 127.

[310] Eds. 1612, 1622, "and."

[311] Scene: the royal palace, London.

[312] An allusion to the Greek proverb, ~ton lykon ton oton echo~.

[313] So eds. 1612, 1622.--Ed. 1598 "as."

[314] So eds. 1612, 1622.--Ed. 1598 "will."

[315] The entrance and exit of Winchester are not marked in the old eds.

I have followed Dyce.

[316] Dyce proposed to omit the word "letter."

[317] Mr. Fleay reads:--

"And where he lieth none but we shall know."

[318] Ed. 1598 "it."--Eds. 1612, 1622, "it is."

[319] Scene: precincts of Kenilworth Castle.

[320] Aura vitae.

[321] Edward II. was only forty-three when he was murdered. Stow often speaks of Edward II. as the "old king." Malone on _Richard II._ i. 1 ("Old John of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaster"), remarks:--"Our ancestors, in their estimate of old age, appear to have reckoned somewhat differently from us, and to have considered men as old whom we should esteem middle-aged. With them every man that had pa.s.sed fifty seems to have been accounted an old man.... I believe this is made to arise from its being customary to enter into life in former times at an earlier period than we do now. Those who were married at fifteen had at fifty been masters of a house and family for thirty-five years."

[322] Scene: the Royal Palace, London.