THE NOVELLA,
A COMEDY.
The Persons of the Play.
|
PANTALONIn9250, a senatorn9643
GUADAGNIn9251, a senator |
FABRITIO, son to Pantaloni |
PISO, his friend
FRANCISCO, lover of Flavia |
HORATIO, his friend |
NANULOn9252, servant to Guadagni
ASTUTTAn9253, servant to Guadagni |
NICOLOn9254, servant to Pantaloni |
VICTORIAn9255, the Novellan9256 |
JACCONETTAn9257, servant to Victoria |
FLAVIA, daughter to Guadagni |
BORGIO (revealed to be Paulo)n9258. |
[DON PEDRO]n9259 |
SWATZENBURGHn9260 |
CHEQUINOn9261, a lawyer
PROSPEROn9262, a lawyer
|
PEDLAR-WOMAN
ZAFFIn9263, an Officer |
The Scene: Venice.
PROLOGUE.
In a starchedn9466 formal beard and cloakn6657, I fear,
Some of this auditorygg1694 would be vexed,
And say this is a sermon without a textn6658.
Some think it so essential, that they say
Norgg3457 fool, nor prologue, there can be no play.
Our author’s unprovided; and doth vow
Whate’er I say must stand for prologue now.
Then have at witgg2674 for once, why mayn’t I be
Inspired with wit and sense extemporegg1021?
But first I’ll tell you that I had commissiongs950
From him to tell you that he’ll not petition
That noughtgg5954 should make a man a witgs952, but wit.
He’ll ’bidegg5955 his trial, and submits his cause
To you the jury, son6659 you’ll judge by laws.
If pride or ignorancen6661 should rulen6660, he fears
An unfair trial, ’cause not tried by’sn9459 peersn9267.
Faithgs953, be yourselves awhile, and pass your vote
On what you understand, and do not dotegg4424
On things ’bove nature or intelligencen6662.
All we pretend to is but mirth and sense;
And he that looks for more, must e’en go seek
Those poet-bouncesgg4425 that write English Greek.n6663
Our author aims only to gain you laughter,
Which if you wontn6664, he’ll laugh at you hereafter.
1.1
Enter PISO [and] FABRITIO.
3PisoCome, I protest I’ll have you home again
And tell all to your father, if you go not
More cheerfully on about this business.
4FabritioO Piso! Dearest (dearest?) only friend,
And strikes a filial reverence through my soul;
Lays load upon my loins,
clogginggg4428 my steps;
And like an armèd angel warns me back.
6FabritioIt is not yet daylight: night will conceal
My secret purposes. I will return.
7PisoDo so; and damn thee blacker than the night,
Thee, and thy father too for company.
9PisoPeace, fond Fabritio?
Dost thou not
flygg848 from him to save his soul?
His and thine own
to bootgg915? Will not thy
staygs955
(
Staygs956 not to answer me!) ruin your family;
Cut off all hope of blessing, if not being
Of your posterity? And all this by obeying
A wilfull father in a lawless marriage,
More fatal (I foresee’t) than e’er our state
Of Venice yet produced example for.
10FabritioO now thou tear’st my very bowels, Piso!
Should I consent (as I dare not deny
My over-hasty father) to this match,
I should submit myself the most
perfidiousgg4430
That ever
shadowedgg5957 treachery with love.
Remove thy hindrance from a second choicen6667
Than I give word or thought but to be thine.
11PisoWhy fly we not to Rome then, where you left her,
And shun the danger of your father’s plot,
Which would not only force you
break your faithn9426
With chaste Victoria, but to wed another,
Whose faith is given already to another?
Double damnation! ’Twere a way indeed
To make your children bastards o’ both sidesn6668.
12FabritioCan there no way be found to shun the danger
Of this so hastily intended marriage,
But by my flight, and the most certain loss
Of mine inheritance?
13PisoThat would be thought on.
Musicn9435; and
diversgs509 gentlemen pass to and fro with lights.
At last, enter PANTALONI, lighted by NICOLO
with
dark-lanternsn6669.
Under the universal reign of
venerygs957,
This is the
civil’stgs958! In what sweet tranquillity
The subjects pass by and
salutegg4434 each other!
Stay.
What grave beast, what reverend gib is thatn6671
(I’th’ name of darkness!) dropped out of a gutter?
O age, what art thou come to!
19PisoNay, now I know I am not,
For by
that little loving glimpse of lightn6673
That leads him on, Fabritio, ’tis thy father.
21PisoWhat will this city come to?
A young man shall not shortly venture to
A
vaulting schooln6675 for fear he jump in the
Same saddle with his father to the danger
Enter FRANCISCO and HORATIO.
Stay, here comes more. This is
Some special haunt! Sure, ’tis the habitation
Of the Novella, lately come to town,
Which draws the admiration of all
So to continue till she prove
stale fishn6677,
At the rate she’s
stamped forn6678: for she has set
Such a large price upon her
new nothingn6679,
About her. It seems thy father could not bargain.
For a painter to flatter her, or a poet to
beliegg4439 her
In aiming to augment her beauty: for
I saw her that can judge.
Were to
unkennelgg4440 the handsomest she–fox
In Venice, let him follow these dogs. Sure,
She is
earthedgs962 hereabouts.
They have the scentn6680.
At churchn6685: that’s once for every day that she
Has beautified this city.
May this be to devotion, that he speaks of!
Offered to sale?
Mark but the price she’s
cried atgg4450: two thousand ducats
For her maidenhead, and one month’s
societygg4451.
35PisoWhat a way, now, would that money reach
Person and price, fit only for a prince:
I cannot think a less man than the
Duken9644
Himself must
beargs966 her; and indeed ’twere pity
That she should
sin at less advantagen6687.
By our
expensegg4452 in music?
38PisoA wary whore-master! I like him well
:
A pennyworth for a penny would be looked for.
41HoratioAlthough her price be such to be sold for
In
ready moneygg4453, she is yet allowed
To give herself for love, if she be pleased.
Who knows how well she may affect a man
(As here and there a woman may by chance)
Only for virtue?
That’s worth our adventuren6688.
But I wish rather we could purchase her
At the set price betwixt us for a twelvemonth.
Our friendship should not suffer us to
grudgegg1249
At one another’s good turnsn6689.
What
whelpsgg4454 are these? Sure, this Francisco is
The late–forsaken lover, betrothed to Flavia,
Whom now thy father would so violently
Force thee to marry.
45HoratioCome, sad Francisco, we’ll tomorrow see
This miracle of nature, whose mere sight
Will wipe away the injury thou suffered’st
In
Flavia,n6836 and make thee quite forget her.
46Piso’Tis he, and I will speak to him.
48PisoFrancisco must not so forget his Flavia.
50PisoMen that would have you be so,
And not to
wanton out your holy vowsn6692[He] draws [his sword.]
Dancing yourselves to th’devil.
52PisoI mean, Francisco, you too much forget
The love you bore to Flavia, she to you.
53HoratioShe has forsaken him, and is bestowed
(Forced by
the torrent of her father’s willn6693)
On young Fabritio,
Pantaloni’sn6837 son.
54PisoHere stands the man denies it. Speak, Fabritio.
But not to violate her faith by
breachgg2319
Here is my hand, Francisco: I’lln6838 not wed her.
My lodging is not far.
Please youn9462 retire
And there repose yourselves, until the light
That now is near at hand shall point you forth
Good wine and welcome. Please you to accept it.
If we may rest
securelyn6702 for a day,
Lurkgg4460 closegs500 and private till the appointed hour
For this forced marriage be
over-slippedgg4461,
In case that our necessity may require it?
60PisoBe cheered, Fabritio, thou shalt not to Rome:
We may
preventgg4462 thy danger nearer home.
Now night we thank, and follow thee away
(As being thy servants)n6709 from th’
approaching dayn6841.
Night-walkers,
warned away by th’ morning starn6714.
[They] ex[it]
1.2
Enter GUADAGNI in his study. A taper, bags, books, etc.n6722
Feeding their airy fancies with light dreamsn6725
Of wanton pleasures, giddy, vain delights,
The
ever-watchfulgg4469 cares of aged parents
Throw ope’ the
gates and windows of soft restn6726,
Making our midnight noon, to guard and order
The wholesome fruits of our continual labour.
Wholesome and happy
off-springsn6727 of my pains
Thus I salute you and
imploregs970 your safety,
And thus, that you may rest, grow and increase,
But see the morning hastens to
relievegs971 me!
Day spreads apace, and warns the
providentgg4471 hand
Do outgg4472 the useless taper. Ho! What ho!
Enter NANULO [and] ASTUTTA.
Nanulo! Astutta!
Is it midnight with you?n6729
63NanuloYour servants are all here and ready, sir.
Where is my daughter?
Tell him, I do
attendgs1669 his coming hither
To
expeditegg4477 the work we have in hand.
69NanuloIt shall be done, sir, please you give me passage.
70Guadagni [To ASTUTTA] Here, take the keys, lock the door after him,
Then call my daughter to me.
[Enter FLAVIA]
71AstuttaSee, she’s here, sir.NANULO [and] ASTUTTA exit
Provides for thee. The toil of many years
Lies here in readiness to build thy fortune.
And take it willingly, since thou consent’st
Thyself and
both our joys may find increasen9431.
I can no less than thank thee, Flavia,
Although, I must confess, my suit was long
And grievous to me,
eregg1781 thy childish will
Yielded to my
appointmentgg4479 of a husband,
For whom (with no small joy I speak’t) thou didst
I scorn to name him.
In all this wealthy city.
The
riddancegg4482 of the one to gain the other
(Both which are equal blessings unto me)n6844
Can add unto my present happiness
More than the thought of your paternal wisdom,
Whose
providentgg4471 care was author of this good.
Chiefly to you I therefore wish the
comfortgg2598.
76GuadagniIt will be so: I find it, my dear child,
For though thy joy I know will be abundant,
Mine must exceed that includes thine with it.
Why smil’st thou, Flavia? To think how
nearn6845
Thy
hymenealgg4483 day, tomorrow, is?
This money’s mine again and thou art not,
If thou dost wish one day’s
procrastinationn9433.gg4484
80GuadagniThou’st seen thy last of happiness: all content,
From this
blackgs975 minute, and thyself are strangers.
I’ll
mewgg4486 you up where never sun shall show
Into what endless misery I’ll cast thee;
Nor any sound bring
succourgs976 to thine
earn6848
To call thee back from torment.
88GuadagniDidst thou not say thou wept’st, because tomorrow
Fearing how many
dangerousgs978 hours are
thithergs1670.
91FlaviaLove’s minutes, sir, are days, and hours are years
When
each,n6850 protracted, multiplies our fears.
92GuadagniNow I am sorry with all my heart; and here’s a
But do not let thy husband know of themn6740
Till he redeem a fault to their full value.
Oh, mine own girl! My
honeygg4489, honey girl!
93FlaviaWas not I, sir, applauding of your wisdom,
And giving you the glory of my comfort
In this approvèdgs979 match?
With tears of joy I must confess, thou didst.
My fortune, sprung out of your
providencegs980.
97FlaviaFirst then, how first your admirable wisdom,
Weighing how I had settled my affection
Upon Francisco, excellent in
partsgg4491,
Of noble blood, however low in fortune,
You gave your free consent (knowing your
estategs1671
Unto the dignity of his ancestors,
That I should be his wife――――
101FlaviaI say you gave consent that I should be
Wife to that noble gentleman (pray
sit stilln9463, sir)
As you had foreseen my future happiness
Only in him consisted――― sir, until
This wealthy heir, young Fabritio,
Your neighbour
tradesman’s sonn6742, of great estate,
Was by his father
tenderedgg4494 unto you
For me a husband, then unseen by me:
But
since, I must confess, a n6852propergs148 man,
Worthy a fitter wife―――
103FlaviaBut that your wisdom needs will have it so,
By reason that his
heapsn6743 may purchase honour,
But farewell him: I must look this way now;
And crown your wisdom with this
closinggg4495 point:
That, whereas I betrothed was to Francisco
And
Pantaloni’sn6855 son unto another
(A lady, as ’tis
justifiedgg4496 at Rome)
You force me on this man, the fittest husband
On whom to make my
partygs981 good hereafter,
Who shall not dare to
upbraidgg4541 my breach of faith.
104GuadagniAnd is’t not a sound policy, my Flavia?
A bell rings
But now no more: old Pantaloni comes,
I take it.
Enter NANULOn9464 How now! Does he not come?
Meet him on the
Rialton6745 instantly,
That you may go to the
advocate’sgg958 together.
To seal your marriage
covenantsgg4498. Maken6857 thee happy,
I shall be absent most part of this day.
Be careful, girl: thine own special good
Requires thee to’t; and therefore I dare trust thee.
107FlaviaHappy success attend you, sir, whilst I
Rest here in prayers for you.
[To NANULO] Come, sirrah, lock the door. But first (d’ye hear)
Beware that none have entrance in my absence
Except Fabritio, Pantaloni’s son;
Or such as I have
warrantedgg4500. Look to it.
110GuadagniCome lock the door, I say.[GUADAGNI] exits [with NANULO].
My thoughts were prisoners toon6746: that they might fly
Where they (
loosegg740 things) get out, and nothing bring
Back to this heart, but cold and sad
returnsgg930.
O, my Astutta!――――
Enter ASTUTTA.
113FlaviaAs thou didst ever dream what true love was,
Fancy some way to quit me of this
bondagegg4503,
Or else contrive this hour to be my last.
114AstuttaWhat! Would you disobey your father? What!
So good, so careful, and so wise a parent?
Either speak help, or let me die in silence.
116AstuttaYes, at sixteen! You would die at sixteen?
117FlaviaElse let thy pity of my youth preserve me.
Over poor subjects of sixteen! There is not one
Among a hundred of those
ticklish triflesn6749
But is more taken with a toy at sixteen
Than six-and-twenty, because by that time
The edges of most maidenheads are
allayedgg4505.
Think you I can turn traitor to his trust
And
crossgg2445 his purpose for your marriage?
121FlaviaIf knife or poison, fire or water may
Remove this wretched cause, I’ll do it
elsegs983.
122AstuttaYes, you were best leap from the top o’th’ house
Into
the Canaln6860 Granden6751: and there perhaps
And
waftgs984 you to some
house of dear delightn6753.
And
Go-by-groundn6754, your father’s
giantn6755 here,
More stern than
Cerberusn6756, holds fast the
key:n6861
You can make no
excursiongg4562; nor let in
Any attempt for your
redemptiongs985.
No letter or a message can approach you,
But by this giant-dwarf, your father’s agent,
Though I myself were wicked to assist you.
125FlaviaO, could’st thou be so virtuous! Then, I know,
Some
quaintgg1761 device would issue from thy brain
To
conjuregs986 and control his weaker spirits.
Thou know’st I have command of gold and jewels
(Enough to buy a senator’s large conscience):
Do thou command it all to win him to us,
That petty thing. Does he appear bribe-free?
Is he the only officer uncorrupted?
Enter NANULO.
Or hope to be; and hear him
handsomelygs987.
132NanuloWell and respectful towards you, it seems,
For he desires you not to stir
abroadgg896,
As I could wish you would not――――
You know I may not stir beyond the key
You keep, and yet you wish me stay within.
The famous pedlar-woman of this city
With her most precious wares, for you to choose
What you shall like and take them as his presents
(
A ceremony used on wedding evesn6758)
As maids would turn no maids almost to see ’em!n9465
And can you yet be angry at such news,
With me the gladsomegg4517 bringer?
[Aside to FLAVIA] I have heard of this rare pedlar-woman
And that she is much used in
close affairsn6759
’Twixt
partiesgs988, he and she; and do not doubt
Since you make
golden offersn6760 (gentle mistress)
To work her to your ends, as near (
d’yen6862 mark?)
[To NANULO] Pray let her come.
137FlaviaWell sir, you know I shall not stir abroad;
When she is come, she’s welcome with my thanks.
Returngg4564 so by the messenger.
139AstuttaNow mistress, if I chance to set the saddle
On the right horse (that is, to place your maidenhead
Where you would
faingg715 bestow it) I trust you will
Out of your store reward me with a
dowrygs704
Fit to
conveygg4519 me to a tradesman’s bed.
140FlaviaYes, and wish there a second maidenhead
And clear those cloudy looks, awake your senses,
I have
found ground to build onn6763; but there
lacksgg4522
Against all storms, our lofty
archituregg4524.
Edited by Professor Richard Cave
n9250
PANTALONI
This is the name given in commedia dell' arte, the traditional form of Italian improvised comedy, to the type figure of the lean, foolish, bearded and bespectacled old man (vecchio), usually a native of Venice (hence the aptness of Brome's usage here). He customarily wore in commedia a predominantly red costume that included Turkish slippers, pantaloons, a close-fitting jacket, and a skullcap. In such comedy he is continually duped by his children and servants. He is sometimes the butt of jokes about the absurdity of lust in old age, since he is often seen courting the young heroine, who is similarly being wooed by the old man's son. The type derives from the senex of Roman comedy; the name is more familiarly translated into English as "pantaloon" with reference to the "long, close-fitting trousers extended to cover the feet in the manner of tights", which the character always wore on the Italian sixteenth- and seventeenth-century stage (OED 2c).
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n9643
senator
Brome is vague about the actual political status of some of his characters. Pantaloni would appear to be higher in the social scale than Guadagni, which is why the latter wishes their respective offspring to wed. Both are definitely of the merchant class and therefore potentially eligible for the title of "magnifico"; but Brome tends to use this term and "clarissimo" indiscriminately (the latter implies a more aristocratic or patrician background and lineage). To bear either title the merchants would need to hold political office in the Great Council (this was no particularly notable honour, since there were some 1600 members of this council in the seventeenth century, according to Coryat) and so might be termed "senators". As a note of benefit to the designer of an intended production: all senior men of the status to be council members would be dressed uniformly in black: "when they goe abroad of their houses, both they that beare office, and they that are private, doe weare gownes [...] of blacke cloth, and over their left shoulder they have a flappe made of the same cloth, and edged with blacke Taffata: Also most of their gownes are faced before with blacke Taffata" (Thomas Coryat, Coryat's Crudities 2 vols [Glasgow: James MacLehose for Glasgow University Press, 1905] Vol. 1, p.397). Coryat's description continues: "All these gowned men doe weare marveilous little blacke flat caps of felt, without any brimmes at all, and very diminutive falling bandes, no ruffes at all, which are so shallow, that I have seene many of them not above a little inch deepe" (p.398). Since younger men would not be constrained to wear this kind of uniform, their clothing might explore other colour ranges, an effect which would make the elderly fathers stand out as distinctive within the stage picture (a distinction that is apparent in many Venetian family portraits of this and earlier periods).
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n9251
GUADAGNI
Though of the type known as vecchi in Italian comedy, there is no figure who bears this name in commedia dell'arte. But Brome's character, who spends much of the play in the company of Pantaloni, does represent one trait that in Italian comedy was exemplified by the latter: a lust for money. The name, Guadagni, derives from the Italian verb, guadagnare, meaning to earn, win or gain, which is generally used in the context of finance. Pantaloni on the Italian stage is both wealthy and greedy; he is obsessed with money and will do anything to get it. In Brome's play this is the dominant characteristic of Guadagni too.
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n9252
NANULO
Nano in Italian means a dwarf. The additional "-ul" is often deployed in Italian to imply a miniature version of something (as such the resulting term can be used as a mark of affection or distaste, depending on the context).
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n9253
ASTUTTA
Astuta in Italian is the feminine form of the epithet meaning astute, shrewd, cunning, witty, insightful, all qualities which this character will demonstrate.
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n9254
NICOLO
This is a common name amongst Italian men, derived from San Nicolo, often called the "wonderworker". It was the first name (spelt Niccolo) of Machiavelli, the Florentine political philosopher, who advocated the arts of pragmatism in public affairs. In renaissance English theatre the type of the Machiavellian became synonymous with an individual adept at manipulating situations to his own advantage (Ben Jonson brilliantly interrogated the type in the characters of Sejanus and Tiberius in his tragedy, Sejanus, His Fall, acted 1603). Brome's Nicolo shows himself a master of disguise and organiser of schemes but always benignly and to the eventual betterment of his master, Pantaloni, and his son.
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n9255
VICTORIA
In its Italian spelling (Vittoria) the name means victory.
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n9256
Novella
This word is ambiguous and complex in its resonances: in English usage it can mean new (novel), while in Italian it can be applied to a novice, but also carries the meaning, "a short story or fiction". All the meanings come to have some degree of valid application to Victoria. Perhaps the ambiguity is deliberate, designed to alert spectators to the surprises that are in store for them regarding this particular character's identity and her fortunes as the action develops.
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n9257
JACCONETTA
The female form of the name, Jacomo (a little, female Jack), which has some bearing on the final moments of Brome's plot. Though the fact is not recorded in the description of this character as Victoria's servant, Jacconetta is a blackamoor. The character is found ultimately to be in disguise, and cast and director may choose whether the black skin is authentic or a part of the disguise achieved with make-up.
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n9258
BORGIO (revealed to be Paulo)
] Paulo (Bi-named Burgio) (The name and description of this character in the 1653 text reveals his true identity long before the plot resolves with discovery of his having spent most of the action in disguise. This edition throughout names the character in stage directions and speech prefixes by the name (or alias) that he is known to the other characters in Brome's action and reverts to his true name only when the character chooses so to call himself in the final moments of the play.)
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n9259
[DON PEDRO]
This character is omitted from the listing of "The Persons of the Play" in the 1653 text.
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n9260
SWATZENBURGH
No symbolic significance can be detected within this name. "Burg" is modern German for "castle" and "swatz" is akin to "schwartz" meaning "black"; Brome may be inventing a roughly German-sounding surname. Matthew Steggle, however, has traced the name to an actual Franconian family and argues that a recent hero, Adolphus Swarzenburg, may have been his inspiration for the role: Adolphus earned renown fighting against the Turks before his death in 1600 and details of his life were recorded in Knolles's popular and much reprinted General History of the Turkes, an edition of which appeared in the year preceding the performances of The Novella. (See Steggle, Richard Brome: Place and Politics on the Caroline Stage [Manchester: Manchester UP, 2004], pp.33-34.)
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n9261
CHEQUINO
]Cheqinno (Elsewhere in the 1653 text this character's name is spelt "Checquino". A chequin or chequeen was a gold coin, and being so named here is a comment on this character's nature as a lawyer: he is in the profession for the money. Because chequin is the modern spelling for the coin, that spelling has been used for the character's name (Chequino) for reasons of consistency throughout this edition in speech prefixes and stage directions and to highlight Brome's irony. In the seventeenth century chequins were the most valuable coins and the only gold coins in the Venetian monetary system.)
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n9262
PROSPERO
The name is derived from an epithet which in Italian means "prosperous, flourishing, thriving, affluent". The word is a neatly ironic comment on the character's success as a lawyer. Like Chequino, Prospero is in the legal profession for its financial rewards.
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n9263
ZAFFI
The name indicates the precise status of the character as an officer of the Venetian state.
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n10118
Should I not speak a prologue
Video
We decided to explore the prologue to the play in a workshop for a number of reasons. It requires a mode of direct address very different from passages where such address had been investigated previously in workshops. These, being situated within a developing narrative, had often involved a degree of choice for the actor: is this passage better delivered as an aside or directed straight at the audience? Here, however, at the play’s opening Brome is confronting his audience and establishing what their reciprocal relationships will be throughout the coming action. The direct address here is unequivocal. So what kind of tone does this invite the actor to adopt? There is too an idea running through the speech that it is all improvised: the situation supposes that an actor has been pushed on stage by the company because an audience expect a prologue; but, as Brome has not actually written one, the actor has to fall back on his own wits and invent on the spot. The intimation is that Brome has little respect for his spectators. However, though on the one hand the attitude is offhand or even confrontational, by contrast the style is meticulously controlled, the couplets sophisticated in their construction, and the metrics exact. Could one perform such consummate literary artistry as improvised? What can an actor make of all these seeming contradictions? Would it be possible, for example, for the actor to play his own persona off against that which Brome is establishing for himself as dramatist in this moment? How intimate might the tone and relationship between actor and spectator become and on what grounds?
Two actors worked on the prologue, Hannah Watkins and Alan Morrissey; each took a different approach. Hannah decided to stand her ground confidently and speak down to the audience, as if pained at being required to make such overtures to them. She attended to the structuring of the couplets with considerable precision; frankly explained the distasteful situation of there not being a prologue written, which thus necessitates her improvising extempore. Here is a demonstration of coldly framed wit that chooses not to go for local jokes to provoke laughter by the way but builds towards that final couplet with a controlled disdain. Hannah attends to the syntax with punctilious exactitude, playing every punctuation mark for what it is worth, enforcing spectators to hang on her every word to learn precisely where each long sentence is leading. This is a performance that delights in Brome’s calculated logic. The invitation to laugh is withheld right to the very last word and the pause before its utterance holds the whole speech and the exact relationships of actor and of author to audience in suspension till released into the comic threat implicit in “hereafter”. The tone throughout this performance created by the persona Hannah adopts is what one might term Jonsonian: its over-riding tone is combative; it mocks at audiences, at their bogus tastes that reveal they cannot discriminate good from poor artistry, at their demand that their own expectations be fulfilled and established conventions (such as the prologue and how it is presented) be honoured, whether there is any point to such conventions or not. The joke is at all times directed at the docility of spectators for being in thrall to fashionable taste and devoid of real judgement, which renders them all too easy a target for a playwright’s scorn and satire. Such a reading of the prologue prepares an audience to expect that they will have to be alert to the nuanced implications of the comedy which follows (it is to offer a shrewdly pointed commentary on gender relations and patriarchal responsibilities) and not to expect to rest easy in their laughter.
Alan took a very different line, choosing to create for himself the persona of company clown (one might imagine him subsequently in the role of Nicolo). Rather than stand aloof like Hannah, he chooses to dramatise both speech and situation: he starts having a row with his offstage fellows who are forcing him out onstage; but, once he is in the playing space and observing a watching audience, he turns his attention to them and to creating a good relationship with them. Unlike Hannah who loftily addressed spectators, Alan fraternises with them, takes them all into his confidence, selects individuals to tease, share an understanding with, or befriend. He uses the audience throughout and similarly uses his script with the occasional “ums” and “ahs” to create the illusion that he is winging it and making the whole lot up as he goes along. He makes as many incidental jokes as the lines will allow, though without losing the overall direction of the speech. If Hannah’s account was Jonsonian in its inspiration, this is a much more a Shakespearean delivery, akin to the soliloquies of Launce in The Two Gentlemen of Verona or of Young Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice, which are stand-up turns like the lazzi of commedia dell’arte. Gobbo is an interesting presence behind the performance, since Brome’s comedy, makes numerous inter-textual references to Shakespeare’s, as the Introduction and several annotations to the text of The Novella examine in detail. (The persona was wholly of Alan’s devising; he was in no way tutored to act in this way.) What delights in this reading is how the actor balances a decidedly colloquial delivery with maintaining a light hold on the couplets and the stanzaic structures. This seems improvised but one senses Brome’s control underlying it all, which hints exactly at the situation with the play that will follow: on the surface it invites mirth, but to the astute listener there are serious implications to its witty invention.
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n6657
In a starched formal beard and cloak
Like many of Ben Jonson's prologues and inductions, Brome's frequently give us insights into staging and performance practices in the seventeeth-century theatre. Actors speaking prologues were clearly recognisable to audiences then by how they appeared. Sometimes, as in the prologue to the play-within-the-play in The Antipodes the actor wears clothing symbolic of the ensuing action: in this particular case, since the play that follows is to be about social inversions, he wears on his feet shoes of beaver fur more suited to a hat and on his head a cap of leather more suited to footwear [AN 2.1.speeches250-254]. Generally, however, the prologue-speaker wore a distinctive cloak. In the Induction to Jonson's Cynthia's Revels (acted 1600) three boy actors fight over who shall speak the prologue, which requires them to fight for possession of the cloak. Prologues were often formal occasions, when the actor made suit to the audience for acceptance of the ensuing play. Brome, however, pretends not to have written an appropriate speech, leaving the company to place onstage an actor who must therefore improvise something appropriate to the occasion. (It is all a joke, of course: Brome has certainly penned what is spoken.) So we are presented with a suitably impressive and stately-looking figure (the cloak is noticeably supplemented with a beard that, being waxed or "starched", would follow the currently popular van Dyck style, where the hairs were gathered or teased to a pointed end below the chin) who nonetheless is unsure how to proceed. His speech is about enacting an expected role that goes with a given, known kind of costuming and about how spectators view and, more importantly, judge a role in relation to current theatrical conventions and their own trained expectations. Cunningly Brome has set up the themes that are central to his comedy, particularly in relation to how spectators will view his main character, Victoria, and her costuming as the Novella.
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n9466
starched
Rice starch used for starching ruffs is also a good "hair gel", as it keeps hair or beard in place and can be brushed out quickly. (I am grateful to Dr. Eleanor Lowe for this information.)
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gg1694
auditory
audience
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n6658
a sermon without a text
It was customary for a preacher to start his sermon by reciting a precise passage from the Bible or another religious work which afforded him his theme. The resulting oration became in consequence a kind of meditation or commentary on the given text.
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gg3457
Nor
neither
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gg2674
wit
intelligence, wisdom; quickness, ingenuity
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gg1021
extempore
improvised
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gs950
commission
authoritative charge or direction to act in a prescribed manner; order, charge, instruction (OED 1a)
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gs951
dubbed
given the title of (poet)
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gs420
fit
suitable, proper
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gg5954
nought
nothing
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gs952
wit
a person of lively fancy, who has the faculty of saying smart or brilliant things, now always so as to amuse; a witty person (OED II, 10)
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gg5955
’bide
abbreviation for abide (meaning to await)
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n6659
so
In the sense: so that (you'll judge) or if (you'll judge).
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n6661
pride or ignorance
(If the audience should be swayed or influenced) by their own egocentricy or stupidity...
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n6660
rule
In the sense: control or influence (the audience, acting as Brome's "jury")
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n9459
by’s
That is: by his (peers).
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n9267
peers
A peer is defined by the OED (1a) as "a person of the same civil or ecclesiastical status or rank as the person in question; an equal before the law"; or as "a member of the same age group or social set; a contemporary" (1c). Both these meanings reside within this usage by Brome here; but, since the over-riding context concerns sound judgement, the dominant meaning of "peers" is one's equals in terms of intelligence, ability, achievement, cultural sensibility. Behind the image lies the concept of justice as involving trial by a jury of equals.
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gs953
Faith
in faith; truly
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gg4424
dote
be overly fond
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n6662
nature or intelligence
That is: humanity or commonsense.
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n6663
poet-bounces that write English Greek.
These are exhibitionistic poets, probably with a university background, who write in an affected or convoluted, neo-classical style, treating English as if it were Greek.
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gg4425
poet-bounces
poets who are boastful swaggerers (OED bounce, n 4b) or show-offs
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n6664
wont
In the sense: resist, will not be open to (laughter)
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n9441
ACT ONE
The relatively short opening act, divided into two scenes, shows Brome's expertise in the art of exposition. Within a short space of playing time he establishes the two linked plots about which his action will evolve; in the first scene he hints at a motif that will help resolve his comedy; and by the second scene he is set to elaborate one of the plots thematically.
It is night-time in, we are to suppose, a piazza in Venice. Two young men, Fabritio and Piso, enter in deep disagreement about the former’s conduct: he is planning to flee his home rather than enter an arranged marriage (organised by his father) with a girl, Flavia, for whom he entertains no feelings: he is already pledged to another, Victoria, whom he encountered during his travels in Rome. Fabritio’s continuing respect for his father, Pantaloni, appals the cynical opportunitist, Piso: but to stay would involve Fabritio in a loveless marriage, while to return to Rome would risk losing his inheritance. Though much information is rapidly imparted to the audience, it is enlivened by being staged as an amicable disagreement (it is indicative of considerable openness and trust between Fabritio and Piso) and by the strongly contrasting characters of the young men: Fabritio, despairing but morally decent; Piso, frank, shrewd, one who values duty to self above any traditional parental claims. They are interrupted by music and the passage over the stage of numerous serenading young gallants severally drawn in one direction, which Piso identifies as the home of a courtesan newly arrived in Venice. Among those passing by both Piso and Fabritio recognise the elderly Pantaloni, seeking with the aid of a dark lantern to hide his identity and reputation from view as he too makes his way to or from the courtesan’s house. An embarrassed Fabritio silences Piso’s comments about aged lechers in general and Pantaloni in particular. Alone again, the young men discuss the Novella, the courtesan who has claimed the right as a virgin, supposedly a custom in Venice, to establish her own fee (in the event an extremely high one) for taking her maidenhead and to await the choice of an ideal suitor for a period of a month. Piso in telling this to Fabritio reveals a marked misogyny, a quality which Brome is to examine in some detail throughout the play. Two new gallants intent on serenading the courtesan, Francisco and Horatio, appear, causing Fabritio and Piso to hide and overhear the newcomers’ conversation about her. In due course Francisco’s identity is revealed to the listeners, who realise he is the man originally pledged to wed with Flavia, a match that like Fabritio’s with Victoria was broken off by her father, Guadagni, who wished to pursue the more lucrative prospects offered by marriage to Pantaloni’s son. All four lovers are at the mercy of the two old fathers. A fight seems imminent, until Fabritio makes clear to Francisco his lack of interest in Flavia; amity prevails; and the four men withdraw to Horatio’s house nearby to plan ways of resolving what they now appreciate to be a shared predicament.
The second scene moves to the interior of Guadagni’s house, where he is found soliloquising in praise of his deep-rooted concern to husband his wealth, which he sees the intended arranged marriage as augmenting substantially, since it involves a union between two established merchants’ households. In a long sequence with his daughter, Flavia, Guadagni rapidly shifts his mood from amiable geniality when he thinks he is getting his way, through tyrannous fury when he supposes that Flavia is challenging his authority, to excessive generosity when his antagonism is proved by her to be misplaced. (On several occasions later in the play Flavia is to be rendered dumbstruck by his outbursts, so this sequence establishes what is a kind of emotional patterning in their relationship.) What emerges from this is an incisive critique of patriarchal power and the ways that, far from encouraging acquiescence, its abusive insistence encourages modes of duplicity and fosters outright subversion in Flavia. Guadagni departs to join with Pantaloni and their lawyers to finalise the marriage documents, instructing his servant, Nanulo, to admit no one and allow no one to depart from his house. Left a virtual prisoner in her own home, Flavia is in despair and fantasizes about suicide till teased by her maid, Astutta, into a calmer frame of mind when she can review her resources. Nanulo appears with the message that Guadagni is allowing Fabritio to send a woman pedlar to the house to bring betrothal gifts of jewels, costly fabrics and the like. Astutta recognises the woman as a well-known go-between; she encourages Flavia to agree to the pedlar’s visit; and privately admits to seeing how now they might build out of these new circumstances a strategy for Flavia’s escape. The two women leave to work out their tactics.
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gg4426
checks
restrain, hold in check, curb, control (OED check v1, 14a)
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gg4427
blood
passion, temper, anger (OED n. 5)
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gg4428
clogging
halting (one's steps), as if hampered by fetters or chains (clogs)
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gs954
proper
apt, fitting (here ironic)
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n6665
bears his hue–and–cry in’s conscience
Piso is being ironic. He is asking what the point is of setting out with the clear intention of achieving something, if you feel inwardly guilty about doing so.
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gg4429
hue–and–cry
the pursuit of a felon (by constables or by a mob of people) with a loud outcries, such as "Stop, thief!"
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gg2344
reverence
profound respect
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n6830
so! Do
] so, doe
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gg848
fly
flee, break away
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gg915
to boot
also
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gs955
stay
a stopping behind, halt, delay, postponement
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gs956
Stay
stop in one's tracks, stand still
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gg4430
perfidious
guilty of breaking faith or violating a confidence
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gg5957
shadowed
concealed, screened, obscured
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gg4432
steel
dagger, sword
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n9425
steel
Much later in the play when Victoria (Fabritio's love) finds the integrity of her passion and commitment to him under threat, she too resorts to a dagger and threatens she will commit suicide rather than lose the virginity she has pledged to Fabritio (see NV 5.1.speeches 705-706[NV 5.1.speeches705-706]).
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n6667
Remove thy hindrance from a second choice
He means that, while he remains living, he prevents Victoria from marrying another. To kill himself would allow her to pursue another relationship. It must be stressed here that a quite different set of values are at work in this situation than are apparent to twenty-first-century sensibilities. What is implicit behind all these speeches, though never explicitly stated because Brome could assume his contemporary audience would understand Fabritio and Victoria's predicament, is the binding power of handfasting, the pledging of troth between lovers, which was tantamount to marriage, regardless of whether or not it was accompanied by a church ceremony. While the English church had done much to try and stamp out the custom and its codes, it still prevailed and, in terms of theatre, was as here in Brome's comedy a very good basis for a dramatic crisis. Victoria's is the same predicament as that faced by both Juliet and Marianna in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure : the first has taken the social power of the handfast to consummate her union with Claudio; the second has been jilted by Angelo in direct opposition to the traditional expectations of a union that has progressed so far. For a first-rate discussion of the intricate social codes surrounding handfasting, see chapter six of Germaine Greer's Shakespeare's Wife (London: Bloomsbury, 2007). In the immediate context of this line, what has to be understood is that in terms of handfasting Victoria would still be considered married to Fabritio and so only his death would allow her to accept the suit of another man. Much of what follows in the dialogue between Fabritio and Piso has to be understood in this context: hence, for example, Piso's reference to "bastards" as the offspring of any union that either lover might pursue outside or instead of their own handfasted state.
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n9426
break your faith
This is the nearest that Brome comes to being explicit about handfasting and its subsequent demands on both partners to that contract. Over the next few speeches (and passim throughout the play) Brome is to work some interesting oppositions between "faith" and "marriage", in which marriage is conceived as a sin (being in the instance of Fabritio's union with Flavia an arranged match made more for the commercial benefit to both their fathers than to either marital partner, each of whom loves elsewhere).
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n6668
To make your children bastards o’ both sides
This is an idea that runs throughout the play: that children are in effect illegitimate, when they are born into a loveless marriage where both parents love (and in this instance are affianced to) another person. Again the sheer force of terms like "bastard" have to be understood in the seventeenth-century context of the codes of handfasted unions.
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n9435
Music
Such a simple direction gives no indication of how this sequence was handled in performance. There would have been musicians available in the Blackfriars Theatre but whether they simply accompanied the flow of gentlemen across the stage playing from within their gallery "above" or whether they themselves joined various groups of the actors to swell the scene onstage, it is impossible to gauge. If spectators are to suppose that the gentlemen are suitors to Victoria serenading her in her house, which is to be imagined as situated just offstage, then that would suggest that isolated instrumentalists were deployed, each accompanying one or more gentleman. For such an arrangement to create a continuous flow of music would require expert timing and a developed ensemble. But then Martin White (Renaissance Drama in Action [London and New York: Routledge, 1998], p.154) quotes Bulstrode Whitelock's opinion (1634) that the orchestra at the Blackfriars was "esteemed the best of common musicians in London", so such a treatment of the scene would not be impossible. How close this episode came to the style of Italian commedia is another unaswerable question; but mime of any kind, particularly if involving a number of individuals as here, works best if there is some sense of a shared "beat" amongst the cast to give the action a tight structure and dynamic. The play is set in Venice and perhaps some reference to Carnival might have been deployed in the look of the scene, when again random groups of seen musicians would be more appropriate than a hidden orchestra. Whatever style is adopted in a modern production, it would be important to establish a mood and rhythm so that a significant change might be effected once Pantaloni arrives, comically endeavouring to remain incognito.
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gs509
divers
various, sundry
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n6669
dark-lanterns
A lantern with a slide or arrangement by which either the light may be concealed or give off a dim, meagre and diffused light over a limited space. Fynes Moryson describes the use of such "close" lanterns in Florence: "...the gentlemen in Companies walked by nights in the streetes, with Rapyers, and close lanthornes, I meane halfe light, halfe darke, carrying the light syde towardes them, to see the way, and the darke syde from them, to be unseene of others" (Shakespeare's Europe, Unpublished Chapters of Fynes Moryson's Itinerary, Being a Survey of the Condition of Europe at the end of the 16th Century, ed. by Charles Hughes [London: Sherrat and Hughes, 1903], p.463).
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n9467
Piso
The following speech accompanies and in a sense frames the dumbshow that it comments upon, so the actor speaking it must carefully time the development of his dialogue with what occurs on the stage before and about him, particularly so with regard to Piso's first sighting and then recognising the aged Pantaloni.
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n9460
night-walkers
That is: people walking about the city by night. Repeatedly Brome in the early phases of this opening scene reiterates the idea (by word and then by the use of "lights") that the situation is to be imagined as taking place by night. In the final speeches of this scene reference is made to the near approach of dawn; and in the scene that follows dawn has come and a point is made verbally and through action of snuffiing out a candle. The whole play is to be imagined as occurring within the passage of a single day. Fleay (A Biographical Chronicle of the Engliish Drama, 1559-1642, 2 vols. (London, 1891), I, p.38) argued that this was a topical reference to Fletcher's play of c. 1611, The Night Walker, or The Little Thief, which had been revised by James Shirley for performance by Queen Henrietta Maria's Company. The fact that Shirley's play was not licensed for performance till 11 May, 1633 disproves this claim. Fleay thought that the adjacent usage of "Balls" was a similar topical reference to Shirley's The Ball (licensed 1632), but there is no evidence to support this notion.
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n6670
Balls
Entertainments with dancing. These were often in Venice initiated with a serenade (hence the music) at the mistress's window then evolved into dancing in the street or piazza (if the mistress descended) or within the house (if the lover and his entourage were invited within). In England in the seventeenth century, something was known of carnival time and its traditions of cloaked and masked figures pursuing their amorous activities while protected by the measure of anonymity afforded by wearing masks. English responses alternated between the titillated and the shocked. Interestingly Coryat, Brome's source for details of Venetian life, makes no mention of carnival (though he attended and writes about numerous musical performances, a visit to the theatre for a commedia show and the staged antics and loquacity of mountebanks). Since he was present in the city for only some six weeks, he is likely to have missed an experience of what for many then and now is still the Venetian experience. Fleay in his Biographical Chronicle of the English Drama, 1559-1642, (2 vols. [London: 1891], I, p.38) argued that this was a topical reference to Shirley's play, The Ball, which like The Novella, was also staged in the 1632-1633 season but by Queen Henrietta Maria's Company. Bentley considered the notion unfounded (see G.E. Bentley The Jacobean and Caroline Stage [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1941], III, p.85).
Fynes Moryson offers a different possible interpretation of the line in observing that courtesans' admirers and patrons would often "in the tyme of Carnovall publickely [...] grace them by flinging egs filled with rosewater at their windowes, where they stand to be seene" (Shakespeare's Europe, Unpublished Chapters of Fynes Moryson's Itinerary, Being a Survey of the Condition of Europe at the end of the 16th Century, ed. by Charles Hughes [London: Sherrat and Hughes, 1903],
p.412). The titlepage of Coryat's Crudities contains a number of illustrations, one of which in the bottom righthand corner shows a courtesan throwing eggs at Coryat as he tries to depart in a gondola. (In his account of visiting Margarita Emiliana, Coryat takes meticulous care to suggest that he went there not for licentious reasons but to preach to the woman in the hope of her ending her sinful ways. That she should retaliate by pelting him out of her house in this manner is hardly surprising. Maclehouse's edition of Coryat's Crudities, [Glasgow: University of Glasgow Press, 1905]
includes a fine reproduction of the titlepage.)
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n6831
mistresses'. Well, of
] Mistresses, well of
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n9427
mistresses'
A noun, such as "homes" or "houses", has to be understood here.
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gs957
venery
sexuality, lust (but the reference here hints at the astrological influence of the planet, Venus, named after the Roman goddess of love and sex)
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gs958
civil’st
most sophisticated, subtle, advanced
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gg4434
salute
greet, hail, pay one's respects, honour (often with elaborate compliment, gesture or bow)
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n6671
What grave beast, what reverend gib is that
The terms here are delightfully ambiguous. "Grave" can mean both sombre, serious; but also marked for the grave, ancient. The combination with "beast" creates a mixed image of a lusty senior (or dirty old man), which the phrase "reverend gib" amplifies. "Reverend" implies one who is old and so deserving of reverence, but "gib" is a fond term for a pet cat, usually applied to a tom-cat (though in some usages in the seventeenth century a castrated tom was so defined).
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n9428
Pray forbear.
Fabritio has clearly recognised his father the moment he appears and now tries to hush Piso's outburst.
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gs524
Pray forbear
stop (this behaviour), desist
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n6672
Venus
Venus was the Roman goddess of love, sex, lust and desire.
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n6673
that little loving glimpse of light
This is a precise description of the quality of light spilling out from a dark-lantern.
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n6675
vaulting school
A riding academy is the superficial meaning here. But "vaulting" with its connotations of leaping onto a horse's back or into the saddle has obvious sexual resonances, so that a "vaulting school" may be interpreted as a brothel, where in this instance young and old vie for the attentions of the inmates. "Vaulting-house", according to the OED (vbl.n2, 4) had been used to reference a brothel from the 1590s and "vaulting-school" (OED vbl.n2, 5) similarly from c.1606. It recurs in drama of the 1630s: when Silius, for example, in Nathaniel Richards's Messallina (c.1635) attacks the whores in Rome, he accuses them of inhabiting "the divels vaulting-school" (l.438).
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n6832
Of his old bones.
The 1653 text gives this as an incomplete half-line and, after the following stage direction marking Francisco and Horatio's entrance, creates a new verse line for what is the continuation of Piso's speech: "Stay, here comes more. This is..." Metrically the two half lines taken together create a single verse line and so they have been set out as such in this edition.
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gg4435
rampant
lustful (but often with connotations of vicious)
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n6676
gallantry
Here the word is used with irony or with a degree of opprobrium to mean men who fancy themselves to be gallants, showy exhibitionists when courting women.
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n6677
stale fish
A fish was often used as a pejorative term for a whore; and an ageing prostitute was commonly referred to as "stale fish" (a fish that has lost its savour, lively eye and firm flesh).
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n6678
stamped for
Several meanings underlie this usage. The basic meaning is obviously "priced at"; but "stamped" can carry the meaning "printed" so the phrase here would signify "advertised" about Venice (though the OED does not record a usage in this way after 1624). Other meanings relevant in the context are "to give authority to by giving a mark of approval" (and, as we learn later in the play, Victoria is calling on the authority of a precise ruling in Venice in calling herself a Novella). This last usage often also carried with it the sense of "assigning a distinct quality to". That these last usages were generally deployed in material or mercantile contexts is fitting, given the pejorative cast of most of Piso's comments about both Victoria and women generally, until finally he learns a new language as the fifth act evolves.
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n6679
new nothing
This is the tone of the jaded man about town who has seen it all before, which is a neat piece of characterisation on Brome's part: Piso thinks he can easily place Victoria as just another courtesan in Venice (there have been far too many predecessors for him to get excited about the new girl). Experience of her will steadily prove him wrong.
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gs957
venery
sexuality, lust (but the reference here hints at the astrological influence of the planet, Venus, named after the Roman goddess of love and sex)
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gg4437
prodigality
wasteful and reckless extravagance
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gg4438
at odds
in conflict, at variance
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n9429
Peace, and stand close.
At this moment Brome sets up a typical metatheatrical strategy, which he will repeat and make increasingly complex as the comedy evolves. He takes two characters to the margins of the playing space ("stand close"), where they observe and comment on two more, who are in earnest discussion. Effectively, he creates a small play-within-the-play so that the theatre audience respond to the proceedings through the framing commentary of the onstage spectators. In the process he creates too a divided focus of interest for his theatre audience, as they shift their attention between two groups of speakers. What both audiences quickly learn is that Francisco is Fabritio's rival and a tense conflict might ensue, except that Brome has other objectives in mind for his plot-line.
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gs895
rare
exceptional; splendid
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n6833
impossible
] unpossible (OED cites this usage as common up to 1660 but present only in dialect thereafter)
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gg4439
belie
give a false impression, misrepresent
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gg4440
unkennel
bring out into open ground
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gs962
earthed
hiding within its burrow or den
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n6680
They have the scent
Piso's speech here plays with the punning resonances of the term, venery, which can mean both the sport of hunting and the pursuit of sexual pleasure.
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n6685
At church
This is a neatly ambiguous statement. By the end of the play when we have come to learn Victoria's moral nature, we know that attending mass is for her a highly likely occupation. It was, however, a social fact about Venice in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that church was a good situation in which a courtesan might advertise herself. Most citizens would attend a church regularly and particularly on Sundays, and courtesans would be conspicuous presences there, given their dress and elaborate ways of offsetting their beauty. During the period of the sermon given at certain masses, they would provide a particular focus of attention for the wandering male gaze. Gazing might well then lead to the making of assignations via a courtesan's servant or bravo.
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gs965
rare
exceptional, unusual, remarkable, excellent (but here used with profound irony)
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gg508
piece
a woman, usually with the connotation of being a sexual object (OED II 9b)
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n6834
worth.
] worth
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gg4450
cried at
proclaimed, advertised, offered for sale (OED cry v, 5a and 5b)
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gg4451
society
exclusive access, association, relationship, sexual union
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n6686
buttock-beef
A pejorative term for a prostitute. Piso means that for the money required to purchase the Novella's maidenhead a man could acquire access to endless common whores. OED lists a similar usage in Brome's The Queen's Exchange: "I would I had but this fellow's weight in buttock beef" [QE 2.3.speech351].
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n9644
Duke
That is: the Doge, the most senior member of the Venetian governing system. Unusually amongst the Italian states, the office was held by election not by inheritance or force of arms. It was the only Venetian office of state that was held for life.
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gs966
bear
maintain, support, sustain (the cost or responsibility of); but there is also resonant in this usage the sense of "bearing the weight of (a woman)" during sex
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n6687
sin at less advantage
This is part of the male characters' double thinking in the play. Horatio sees it as a "sin" if Victoria loses her maidenhead and honour. Given the price set on its loss, he argues that such a "sin" in her case deserves no less a taker of her chastity than the doge (duke) himself.
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gg4452
expense
expenditure, costs incurred
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gg4453
ready money
immediate payment in coin
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n6688
That’s worth our adventure
He means that, given the fact that a courtesan may well give herself to a first lover purely for affection (and not ready money), then it is worth their while to chance gaining access to Victoria in this hope, since they cannot afford the required fee. They will rely on their sheer bravado and gallantry. Horatio and Piso will make such an attempt in Act Three.
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gg1249
grudge
(v) grumble, complain
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n6689
turns
There is a neat pun here: the men will share Victoria's favours ("turn" here meaning sexual union as in "the best turn in the bed"), while taking turns in being with her.
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n6835
couples!
] couples.
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gg4454
whelps
ill-conditioned or low fellows; saucy or impertinent young louts; ‘unlicked cubs’, ‘puppies’ (OED n1. 3b)
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n9461
Would
That is: would that (he had her); if only.....
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gg4455
pitch
place, situate, establish (themselves)
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gs967
close
two senses are apt here: nearby (close to) and also covert, hidden (closed to view)
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n9436
Song.
No lyric is suggested by Brome and no song is inserted after the epilogue as is sometimes the case with printed texts of Caroline plays. While the text of Horatio's composed lyric in 3.1 is first read aloud before being sung and so is printed in full in the 1653 volume, this is not the case with the other incidental songs used in the course of the play.
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n6836
Flavia,
] Flavia;
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gs524
forbear
stop (this behaviour), desist
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n6692
wanton out your holy vows
Piso's next speech (52) offers an apt precis of these words.
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n6693
the torrent of her father’s will
"Will" here means not only desire but also intent, ambition, which is seen as overbearing all opposition and so is likened to a "torrent".
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n6837
Pantaloni’s
] Pantalonies
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gg2319
breach
breaking, violation
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gg4458
signory
a governing body, especially deployed with reference to that of Venice or other mediæval Italian republics (derived from the Italian, signoria (OED 4).
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gg2208
dowry
as used here, dowry means the same as ‘jointure’: a piece of a husband’s estate left to the wife to sustain her during her widowhood (OED dowry n, 1; and dower n2, 1); ‘dowry’ can also mean a present or gift given by the husband to the wife (OED n. 3)
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n6838
Here is my hand, Francisco: I’ll
] (Here is my hand Francisco,) i'le
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n9462
Please you
That is: would it please you to (retire); would you care to...?
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n6697
comfort.
There is the primary meaning of "ease" in this context but it shades into the sense of "future bliss", "sexual union" and "a happy ending".
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n6839
comfort
] comfort;
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n6840
large. Yet
] large: yet
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n6702
securely
There is a spectrum of meanings in this usage: safely, free from care, threat or anxiety, undiscovered.
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gg4460
Lurk
hide, live concealed, be secret, furtive
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gs500
close
hidden (OED a and adv, 4a)
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gg4461
over-slipped
passed by, lapsed
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n6707
Take mine honour of it
That is: I give my word of honour (as pledge for what you ask and for your safety).
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gg4462
prevent
hinder, thwart, forestall, frustrate (OED v. II 8)
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n6709
(As being thy servants)
Piso imagines the group of men as being like a lord's entourage who must shadow his every movement; and so they hide away with the night from daylight which might expose them and their plotting, if their identities and whereabouts became known.
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n6841
approaching day
] approach day (Some emendation is necessary here as the 1653 text does not make sense as it stands and is metrically short-changed. Two possible readings might be offered: "approaching day", as given; or "approach of day". The former reading is preferred here, since in Horatio's earlier speech (57) there is a description of "the light /That now is near at hand", while in the ensuing scene Guadagni ends his short soliloquy by snuffing his taper to denote that daylight has fully arrived.)
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gg4463
spirits
spirits, ghosts, fairies, imps or elves
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n6842
spirits
] sprights (This is the 1653 reading, which is defendable. The metrics of the line, however, are in consequence somewhat infelicitous. "Spirits" gives a more musical rendering to the line and to modern ears more readily conjures up images of ghosts, which is clearly the relevant meaning here, than imps and elves which are what "sprites" or "sprights" imply, though they are in folklore seen as "night-walkers" too.)
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n6714
warned away by th’ morning star
Renaissance drama abounds in instances where supernatural visitations or manifestations vanish with the approach of daylight. Hamlet's father's ghost departs with the crowing of a cock or when "the glow-worm shows the matins to be near", while Oberon and Titania's retinue must leave with "the break of day". Invocations to the morning star were often the signal that one of Jonson's masques was nearing its end. The "morning star" was in fact the planet Venus, which is visible in the east immediately before sunrise. Such a reference to Venus is wholly appropriate in a comedy about the trials and tribulations of lovers.
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n6722
Enter GUADAGNI in his study. A taper, bags, books, etc.
This direction may indicate the use of a discovery space, set out as described with Guadagni seated within it. Brome, however, throughout his career often created a specific environment for a scene by having a table carried in already covered with a number of items to indicate the kind of room in which the scene was set (see, for example, the opening of 5.2 in The Antipodes [AN 5.2.speech983]). If one consults in Dessen and Thomson's A Dictionary of Stage Directions, 1580-1642 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999) under "study" (pp.220-221), one quickly appreciates that this direction is so common in its features as to have almost iconic status: bags and books indicate more a workroom or counting house than a study, while the taper indicates a night-time setting. Similar features can be found listed in the Dictionary in directions for Satiromastix, Two Merry Milkmaids, Thomas Lord Cromwell etc..
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n6723
leaden-fingered god of sleep
Hypnos (in Roman mythology, Somnus) was the god of sleep whose twin was Thanatos (death); his three sons, Morpheus, Phobetor and Phantasos, were controllers of human dreaming. The deepest level of sleep is often described as "leaden" and the gods bringing sleep or death are often figured as touching the eyes of humans till they succumb to either state.
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gs1012
close
closed, shut (OED a and adv, 1a)
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gs969
fantastic
here used in the sense of "prone to fantasy"
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n6724
fantastic
This is an interesting juxtaposition with the "god of sleep" in the previous line and the "airy fancies" and "light dreams" of the following one. Phantasos, the third son of the god of sleep, induced fantastic dreams in humans, according to Greek mythological thinking and the adjective derives from his name.
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n6725
Feeding their airy fancies with light dreams
One recalls here Mercutio's account of the kinds of dreams induced in love-sick youths by Queen Mab (Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet 1.4.55ff). His lengthy peroration concludes: "I talk of dreams, /Which are the children of an idle brain, /Begot of nothing but vain fantasy, /Which is as thin of substance as the air, /And more inconstant than the wind..." (1.4.96-100). There is also Theseus' account of the madness that overtakes the lunatic, the lover and the poet (A Midsummer Night's Dream 5.1.16-17) with its particular reference to the poet's pen as giving to "airy nothing /A local habitation and a name".
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gg4469
ever-watchful
vigilant, sleepless, continually on the watch, wakeful
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n6726
gates and windows of soft rest
A fanciful depiction of the eyes and other senses that are normally dulled in sleep.
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n6727
off-springs
Guadagni's thoughts are more for his bags of gold that will buy him status than for the daughter, Flavia, he is about to sacrifice to his ambitions. His salutation to his gold has echoes of the hymn to his wealth that Ben Jonson gives to Volpone at the start of his comedy (1606), which is also set in Venice. As Dr. Eleanor Lowe reminded me: the situation of a father more concerned for his money than his daughter is not only akin to that of Shylock and Jessica in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (staged c.1597-8), but also that of Jaques de Prie and his daughter, Rachel, in Ben Jonson's early success, The Case Is Altered (acted c.1598).
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gs970
implore
beg or pray for
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gg4462
prevent
hinder, thwart, forestall, frustrate (OED v. II 8)
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gg4470
breakers
disturbers, disrupters
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gs971
relieve
offer release, free from an obligation (derived from the sense of being relieved from one's guard-duty, which is applicable here)
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gg4471
provident
economical, frugal, thrifty
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gg4472
Do out
extinguish
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n6729
Is it midnight with you?
That is, are you still asleep?
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gs972
About
bestir (yourselves); get a move on
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gg4474
drones
non-workers, lazy idlers, sluggards (derived from "drone" as the male of the honey-bee, a non-worker in the hive)
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n6843
Pantaloni’s
] Pantalonies
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gg4475
magnifico
a great or noble person (generally deployed as an honorary title for any of the magnates of Venice who held high office)
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gg4476
rat
(you) contemptible individual, (you) rag, (you) scrap (perhaps here used as a pejorative reference to Nanulo's dwarf-like stature)
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gs1669
attend
await, expect
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gg4477
expedite
hasten, push on with
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gs973
travail
effort, exertion
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gg4478
watches
vigilance, staying on guard, attentiveness
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gg1250
match
(v) marry
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gs491
will
here used specifically in the sense of intent and inclination
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n9430
this coin
Guadagni's priorities are all too clear: "coin" is far dearer to him than his daughter.
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n9431
both our joys may find increase
Perversely Guadagni couples his delight in a good business transaction that promises to augment his wealth with Flavia's sexual satisfactions leading to her pregnancy ("increase").
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gg1781
ere
before
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gg4479
appointment
arrangement, nominating
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gg4480
offscum
that which is skimmed off, scum or dross; that which is rejected as vile or worthless, a contemptible person, scum
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gs974
blood
family line, lineage
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gg4481
degenerate
a person of debased breeding, one who has fallen on hard times
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n9269
fellow―――
] fellow, (The 1653 text runs the sentence on, but the punctuation must attempt to take account of the fact that Guadagni cannot bring himself to voice the word, Francisco; and throughout the previous line and a half has been vainly trying to avoid saying his name by using all manner of epithets, such is his disgust at the very idea of a man without money wanting to marry Flavia. This edition has endeavoured by careful choice of punctuation to capture the drama of the moment.)
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n9432
[Aside]
There is no such direction in the 1653 text; but, given how rapidly and angrily Guadagni picks up later intimations that Flavia is anything but happy with the arranged marriage (see [NV 1.2.speech78] onwards), then by no means should Guadagni overhear this sighed utterance of her lover's name (the very name he cannot bring himself to utter).
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gg1881
nonpareil
unrivalled, unequalled person
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gg4482
riddance
the getting rid
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n6844
(Both which are equal blessings unto me)
] Both which are equal blessings unto me (The lack of punctuation in the 1653 text leads to a degree of grammatical confusion unless an actor point the speech particularly well. The brackets around what is an inserted clause make for greater clarity and are designed to assist the actor shape the meaning more precisely.)
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gg4471
provident
economical, frugal, thrifty
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gg2598
comfort
happiness, joy
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n6845
near
] deare (The topic of the ensuing dialogue between father and daughter is continually referring to the temporal proximity of the intended wedding. Hence this emendation, especially given how close the usage is here to the word, "tomorrow". The 1653 reading of "dear", whether used in the sense of "heartfelt, affectionate" or as meaning "costly", does not seem appropriate for the context, though that reading might be allowed, if "dear" were taken to mean "glorious" or "noble", implying that Flavia is smiling to imagine how grand an occasion the wedding will be.)
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gg4483
hymeneal
bridal (derived from Hymen, the Roman god of marriage)
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gg4484
procrastination.
delay, postponement
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n9433
procrastination
] procrastination,
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gg4481
Degenerate
a person of debased breeding, one who has fallen on hard times
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n6846
brat! Changeling!
] Degenerate brat, changeling
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gg4485
Changeling
a fickle or inconstant person; a waverer, turncoat
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gs975
black
dire, awful, dreadful
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n6847
in.
] in
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gg4486
mew
shut away, confine, imprison
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gs976
succour
relief, release, comfort
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n6848
ear
] Eare.
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gg4487
carver
one who carves (meat) at table
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gs977
withal
besides
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n6849
Didst thou not say thou wept’st, because tomorrow Was come so nigh?
The 1653 text prints this as prose: "Didst thou not say thou wept'st, because to mor- /row was come so nigh?" The confusion may have arisen as a consequence of the way that "to morrow" spills over into the following line of printed matter. "Was come so nigh?" makes a complete, if divided, verse line when taken with Flavia's response: "So nigh and yet not come, sir". Hence the emendation turning prose into verse in the current text.
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gg559
nigh
near; nearly
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gs978
dangerous
hazardous, risky, unsafe
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gs1670
thither
up to that time; until then; between now and then (OED 3a)
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n6850
each,
] each
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gg4488
chequins
gold coins, a currency in Italy and Turkey (each was valued by Hakluyt c.1599 as the equivalent then of "seven shillings and two pence sterling" (OED), which in today's currency would equal roughly £36
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gg4793
expiate
make amends or reparation for
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gg319
trespass
(n) offence (OED n. 1); minor violation of the law (OED n. 2); crime
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n6740
But do not let thy husband know of them
Traditionally in most European countries in the seventeenth century, all a wife's possessions became on marriage the property of the husband, except for the dowry. Guadagni is here encouraging his daughter in subterfuge, by advising her to keep a secret store of money that she is to offer to her future husband only if she commits some fault and requires to buy his good opinion again.
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gg4489
honey
a term of endearment: sweetheart, darling (OED n. 5a)
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gs979
approvèd
commended (but also in this instance with the meanings, sanctioned, agreed, contracted)
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gg4490
magnified
enlarged, increased, augmented
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gs980
providence
prudent management or provision (OED 1a and 4)
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gg4491
parts
attributes, qualities, abilities, gifts
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gs1671
estate
property, possessions, fortune, capital (OED n. 12a)
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gg1143
portion
dowry (monies, goods or lands brought by the wife to augment her husband’s estate on their marriage)
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gg5956
fitter
better suited, more appropriately used
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n6741
another’s muckhill
Flavia subtly offers a disparaging reference to hoarded wealth, thereby criticising the future husband and father-in-law that Guadagni has chosen for her.
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gg4492
muckhill
heap of refuse, dung, filth
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gg4493
fly not off
do not grow angry, lose control
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n9463
sit still
The words are capable of two slightly different meanings. Guadagni is seated when spectators first see him at the start of the scene and it may be at this point that he rises in anger from the table that is serving as his desk. Or it may be that the actor would prefer to squirm in his seat with both anger and discomfort at what his daughter is saying.
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n6742
tradesman’s son
This is another subtle hit at Guadagni's want of insight and taste. Flavia might have used the more flattering word, "merchant" (with its connotations in the Venetian context of shipping, trading overseas, the source of much Venetian wealth and international culture) but instead she deploys the more mercenary term, tradesman, for Pantaloni and Fabritio, which with the earlier use of "muckhill" conjures up an image of father and son as money-grubbing artisans or usurers.
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gg4494
tendered
offered for approval and acceptance (but with a suggestion of contractual obligation)
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n6852
since, I must confess, a
] since I must confesse a
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gs148
proper
handsome, distinctive, really masculine (the modern equivalent would be 'sexy')
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n9434
modesty!
] Modesty.
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n6743
heaps
Flavia picks up and develops her earlier disparaging reference to Pantaloni's accumulated wealth as his "muckhill".
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n6744
Which tother’s wants can never wash away.
Flavia hints that Fabritio's "honour" is so innate and fundamental a part of his nature that, however impoverished he may become, it cannot be suppressed, compromised or lost.
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n6853
tother’s
] to'thers
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gg4808
wants
needs (OED v. 4a)
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n6854
away.
] away, (Given the abrupt dismissal of Francisco envisaged here, a full stop marks a more definite end to the relationship than the comma deployed in the 1653 text.)
[go to text]
gg4495
closing
concluding, final
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n6855
Pantaloni’s
] Pantalonies
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gg4496
justified
affirmed, corroborated, acknowledged
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gs981
party
(my) person, condition, social position
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gg4541
upbraid
reproach, find fault with
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n9464
Enter NANULO
This direction is placed in the 1653 text after the end of Guadagni's speech, but clearly Nanulo's arrival must anticipate the change of direction in Guadagni's thinking that is signified by his sudden exclamation.
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n6745
Rialto
An exchange or mart. The OED cites Coryat's Crudities ([Glasgow: James MacLehose for Glasgow University Press, 1905], Vol. 1, p. 312), which gives a very exact description: "The Rialto which is at the farther end of the bridge as you come from St. Marks, is a most stately building, being the Exchange of Venice". It was the place where Venetian merchants did their business twice a day. Coryat describes the Rialto as "of goodly heigth, built all with bricke as the Palaces are, adorned with many faire walkes or open galleries [...] and [it] hath a prety quadrangular court adjoyning to it " (Ibid). He thought the building inferior to London's Exchange "though, indeede there is a farre greater quantity of building in this then in ours" (Ibid).
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gg958
advocate’s
lawyer
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gg4497
interchangeably
mutually, reciprocally, in turn, one after the other
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n6857
covenants. Make
] covenants; make thee happy, (There is an abrupt shift in Guadagni's speech, as he turns from mention of the occasion of his leaving to instruct his daughter to stay within the house and guard his "havings"; and some break needs to be made grammatically to mark that shift of intention. It would be feasible to leave the semi-colon after "covenants" as in the 1653 text, but then a full stop would be required after "happy". The inference of the speech with such a reading is that the "covenants" would be the source of Flavia's future happiness. However, it would seem equally feasible to mark the turn in Guadagni's thinking with "covenants", after which he instructs Flavia to enjoy her own company and thoughts before advising her to guard his property in his absence. This is the preferred reading here.
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gg4498
covenants
contracts
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n9270
Look to my house and havings, keep all safe.
There is a distinct echo here of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice when Shylock bids his daughter, Jessica, farewell on the night that he is invited to feast with Bassanio (2.5). He too is anxious for the safety of his house and three times warns Jessica to watch over it carefully in his absence: "Jessica, my girl, /Look to my house..." (ll.15-16); "Hear you me, Jessica, /Lock up my doors..." (ll.28-29); and "Do as I bid you. Shut doors after you. /Fast bind, fast find --- /A proverb never stale in thrifty mind" (ll.52-54). This is the first of many inter-textual references to Shakespeare's play, which establish a kind of dialogue between the comedies for the informed spectator.
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gg3994
Look to
look after
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n6858
havings, keep all safe.
] havings; keepe all safe, (Again there is an abrupt shift of subject after "safe", as Guadagni informs Flavia how long he supposes he will be absent; and so a stronger pause than is provided by a comma would seem to be required here. Hence the emendation.)
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gg4499
havings
that which one has or possesses: one's possessions, property, wealth, belongings (OED vbl. n, 2)
[go to text]
gg4500
warranted
authorised, given permission to
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n6859
Ay, Ay,
] I. I, ("I" is regularly deployed in texts of the period in place of the "ay" that indicates assent, as is required by the context here.)
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n6746
My thoughts were prisoners too
Flavia is aware that her thoughts have a freedom to roam where they will but always they bring her nothing but sadness, given her current plight. She wonders whether it would make matters easier for her, if her thoughts were as imprisoned within the house as is her body.
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gg4501
casement
window
[go to text]
gg4502
wicket
a small gate or door
[go to text]
gg740
loose
free from moral restraint, wanton (OED adj. 7)
[go to text]
gg930
returns
yield, interest or profit
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n6747
Now or never help me!
Astutta hears the end of Flavia's speech as she enters and from that and the tone of Flavia's "O, my Astutta!" guesses that her charge is going to beg her aid. Throughout the play Astutta shows a wickedly satirical streak in her nature, as if she wishes continually to deflate the emotionalism of both her master and his daughter. An actress might make a great deal of this running character-trait.
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gg4503
bondage
slavery, subjection
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gs982
vex
torment; but also with the suggestion of urging (that which is painful to undertake) or teasing (OED v. II 6c and I 4c)
[go to text]
n6748
Cupid
In Roman Mythology, the god of love, son of Mercury and Venus, identified with the Greek Eros.
[go to text]
gg4504
termagant
boistrous, overbearing, bullying
[go to text]
n6749
ticklish trifles
Astutta is being ironically scathing again, referring to Flavia as being like all sixteen-year-olds: giggling triflers (silly chits of girls).
[go to text]
gg4505
allayed
tempered, modified (with the intimation of sexually experienced)
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n6750
course
That is: a course of action, a plan or plot.
[go to text]
n9271
What, to
] what to
[go to text]
gg4462
prevent
hinder, thwart, forestall, frustrate (OED v. II 8)
[go to text]
gg2445
cross
(v) thwart, forestall; contradict; afflict, go against
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gs983
else
indeed I will
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n6751
the Canal Grande
The reference is to Venice's Grand Canal; but the Italianate pronunciation would seem necessary for the rhythm of the line.
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n6860
Canal
] Cavail (The context clearly indicates that an emendation is necessary here, and OED lists no word akin to "cavail". However, Coryat frequently in his Crudities [Glasgow: James MacLehose for Glasgow University Press, 1905] refers to the "Canal il grande", as, for example, on pp. 310 and 313. It may be that Brome, a scribe or the compositor misread or compressed that phrase to produce the 1653 reading.)
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n6752
courteous gondolier
This is somewhat ironic. Gondolas were generally believed in the popular imagination to be the means of pursuing illicit sexual liaisons and Coryat in his Crudities (1611) describes gondoliers as "seducing and tempting" and warns English visitors especially to avoid the gondoliers that trade around the Rialto as being "vicious and licentious". (See Coryat's Crudities, 2 vols. [Glasgow: James MacLehose for Glasgow University Press, 1905], Vol. 1, p.311.)
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gg4506
gondolier
one who rows a gondola about the canals of Venice, steering with a single oar from the rear of the boat
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gs984
waft
to convey safely by water (OED v. 2)
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n6753
house of dear delight
This may refer to the home of her lover, Francesco, or, more ironically, to a brothel.
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n6754
Go-by-ground
The resonances to this abusive nick-name are many: the reference may be to Nanulo as a kind of devil and so he is likened to the snake which after the Fall from the Garden of Eden was made by God to go upon its belly on the ground; or it may be a cruel reflection on Nanulo's want of size as a dwarf.
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n6755
giant
An ironic reflection on Nanulo's size as a dwarf. Astutta may be trying to joke Flavia out of her fears by making their enemy appear laughably puny and not worth worrying about.
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n6756
Cerberus
A frightening, three-headed dog who, according to Greek mythology, guarded the entrance to Hades, the kingdom of the dead.
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n6861
key:
] Key,
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gg4562
excursion
an issuing forth; an escape from confinement (OED n. 1a and 3)
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gs985
redemption
freedom from captivity
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gg1761
quaint
skilful, clever
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gs986
conjure
magically enchant
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gg3212
elected
chosen
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gg4507
Dissemble
put on an act, mimic
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n6757
patience, as you are a woman
In the medieval and renaissance periods, patience was considered one of the chief virtues to be cultivated by women, along with submission to the will of the men in their lives. The story of Patient Griselda, who was subjected to numerous tests of her submissiveness by her lordly husband, was a familiar trope in art and literature, best known in English literature through Chaucer's "Clerk's Tale".
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gs987
handsomely
courteously (but with a suggestion of cunningly)
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gg896
abroad
out and about
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gg4508
Insolent
offensively contemptuous of the rights or feelings of others (OED I, 1)
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gg2441
mar
spoil, damage
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gg236
anon
soon; immediately; in good time
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gg4509
Mercadante
a tradeswoman, (female) seller of goods (Italian)
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gg4510
Merceria
generally the Italian term for a market, but to English ears this aptly suggests also "mercery" a market or shops given over to the sale of fine haberdashery and quality ornamental materials and wear
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n9645
Merceria
The Merceria in Venice occupied what Coryat describes as "the fairest street in all Venice saving Saint Markes"; it was so called because "many Mercers dwell there, as also many Stationers, and sundry other artificers". He describes it as reaching from near the Rialto to the piazza of St. Mark's; as wide enough for "five or sixe persons to walke together side by side"; and as "paved with Bricke and adorned with many faire buildings of a competent height on both sides". (See Thomas Coryat, Coryat's Crudities, 2 vols. [Glasgow: James MacLehose for Glasgow University Press, 1905], Vol. 1, p.328).
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n6758
A ceremony used on wedding eves
It was customary, certainly in Italy, for wealthy bridegrooms to visit their intended brides on the eve of the marriage day, bringing rich gifts (often silks, damasks, fine linens and decorative materials like ribbons and laces and sometimes jewels or money) in specially craftsman-made wooden chests or cassoni, which were exquisitely gilded and painted. For details of the ceremony and examples of cassoni, see Graham Hughes, Renaissance Cassoni (Polegate and London: Starcity Publishing with Art Books International, 1997).
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gg4511
knacks
ingenious contrivances; toys, trinkets, trifles, knick-knacks (OED knack n2, 3)
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gg4512
knots
an ornament or adjunct to a dress made from a complicated interweaving or bows of ribbon; sometimes in the form of a cockade or epaulette
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gg4513
bobs
bunches of coloured yarn, ribbons; ornamental pendants or ear-drops
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gg4514
curls
locks of hair of a spiral or convolute form either used as a hair-extension or as a keepsake if made of the lover's own hair; wreaths of jewels on wires to adorn the hair
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gg4563
purls
threads or cords made of twisted loops, especially of gold or silver wire, used for bordering and embroidering (OED n. I 1)
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gg4515
tricks
ingeniously constructed toys or pieces of artifice, baubles
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gg4516
trillibubkins
used generally in alliterative collocation, such as "tricks and trillibubs"; "trilly bubkins" is a nonce diminutive (OED cites Brome's usage in this play)
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n9465
As maids would turn no maids almost to see ’em!
That is: at the sight of them [the valuable trinkets] maidens would almost be willing to lose their virginity to possess them.
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gg4517
gladsome
cheerful, joyous
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n6759
close affairs
secret liaisons (the implication is that the pedlar-woman is a known go-between)
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gs988
parties
lovers
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n6760
golden offers
bribes of ready gold
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n6862
d’ye
] dee
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n6863
pinch.
] pinch,
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gg4518
pinch
crisis, emergency
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gg4564
Return
say or state by way of reply or answer (OED v1. 19b)
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gg715
fain
gladly, willingly, eagerly
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gs704
dowry
the money or property which the wife brings to her husband; the portion given with the wife (OED dowry n, 2; dower n2, 2)
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gg4519
convey
lead, carry, conduct, guide
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n6761
On the condition
In the context, Flavia means that as part of her agreement with Astutta (a proviso within the contract) she will hope that Astutta may successfully fake a second hymen or maidenhead to grace her marriage bed. Devices to fake the loss of a hymen were deployed in the brothels in Venice as elsewhere in this period when so much social, ritual and iconic importance was invested in a woman's virginity.
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gs989
condition
something demanded or required as a prerequisite to the granting or performance of something else (OED I, 1a)
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n6762
Refresh your temples
That is: wash your face and eyes. Cold water would make the skin appear fresh and, as the temples are pressure points, to bathe them would be generally reinvigorating.
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gs1672
invention
capacity for scheming
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n6763
found ground to build on
The reference is to the parable in the New Testament of the man who built his home safely on rock as distinct from he who built unwisely on sand. When the storms came, the first withstood the blasts while the second sank without trace. The terms of the parable of the wise and foolish builders, which is to be found in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7: 24-27), underlie the whole of Astutta's speech. It is tempting to emend "found ground" to "sound ground" in light of the content of the parable, but the 1653 text decidedly has the former reading; there is no long "s" to make the word an epithet rather than a verb.
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gg4522
lacks
needs, is in need of, requires, wants
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gg4520
rewing
scoring or marking out in lines (for foundations)
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gg4521
squaring
setting square or true
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gg4523
jointing
making of firm joints to support a structure
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n6864
sure
] sure,
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gs762
sure
firm, immovable (OED adj. 5)
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gg4524
architure
an early obsolete form of the word, architecture (OED records no usage after 1594)
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gg4525
counsel
deliberate, consult (together)
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n6865
[FLAVIA and ASTUTTA] ex[it]
] Exeunt Om.
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