ACT FOUR
4.1*
n9746
Act 4 is divided into three distinct scenes. Scene 1 begins with Gabriel and Frederick mid-conversation about the latter’s romantic prospects and Ferdinand’s perfidy towards Frederick’s beloved Charissa. The dialogue situates them outside Sir Andrew Mendicant’s house, from which father and daughter enter with Sir Raphael Winterplum, who has been recruited to promote Frederick’s suit. Although Raphael’s persuasive skills do not overcome Mendicant’s greedy delusions, Frederick and Charissa manage to kiss, temporarily shielded from paternal sight by Gabriel. On discovering the young lovers’ embrace, Mendicant wounds Gabriel, dismisses him and Raphael, and snatches Charissa back offstage and into his house. Cit-wit arrives to relay Lady Strangelove’s demand that Mendicant remove Ferdinand from her house and to report the attempted rape which is the reason for her demand. As Cit-wit exits, Raphael resolves to devise a stratagem, one which is to involve Frederick and then Gabriel as well, and the three all exit. Scene 2 returns to Strangelove’s house and her revenge. The Doctor enters with Court-wit, who reports their hostess to have been deranged by Ferdinand’s action and agrees to bring her to see him again. Ferdinand is carried on again and, watched by Court-wit, Swain-wit and Strangelove, he gives further, and more elaborate, performances of insanity. When his behaviour begins to threaten Strangelove, he is restrained and carried off again; but the Doctor is kept behind for punishment. Retribution, escorted onstage by Cit-wit, arrives in the person of the Sow-gelder: while Cit-wit, Court-wit and Swain-wit pinion the Doctor to a table, the Sow-gelder gets ready to castrate him in sight of Strangelove. Shitting himself in terror, the Doctor tells her a secret in order to prevent the punishment which has been prepared for him. The secret, which is not explicitly divulged to the audience, suffices to save the Doctor’s testicles. After the announcement, by the Boy, of another doctor’s arrival, in company with Mendicant’s servant, the scene closes with a mass exit. Scene 3, still somewhere in Strangelove’s house, brings on Ferdinand, carried by Servants as before but now accompanied by a different medical team: the new doctor is Frederick, disguised and assisted by Gabriel. Having dismissed the Servants, Frederick reveals his identity to Ferdinand, whose madness vanishes on his being told that Mendicant has sought control of his estate. Relinquishing any claim on Charissa, Ferdinand undertakes to help Frederick secure her hand and confesses to having both pretended insanity, and also attempted rape, in order to settle scores with Strangelove. The lady herself enters and accepts Ferdinand’s apologies: all exit to further the cause of young love by means which are still unspecified.
n9746
Enter FREDERICK [and] GABRIEL.
640FrederickThou art so honest that I am ashamed
The vice of anger blinded so my reason,
As not to see through thy transparent breast
A true and noble heart, such as becomes
A kinsman and a friend to her I love.
I can see now, and read thy integrity
And, by the light of that, th’inhuman*n8843
Octavo of 1653 reads `inhumane', which was then the prevalent spelling (see OED inhumane a, 1).
falsehood
n8843
Of that Court-monster, that compacted piece
Of rapine, pride and lust.
641GabrielYet this is he
That did aspire to be a glorious courtier.
642FrederickCourtier? A mere vainglorious impostor,*n9348
Octavo of 1653 reads `imposture', then a possible spelling
n9348
Pretending favour, having nothing less.
Witness his want of merit. Merit only
It is that smooths the brow of majesty,
And takes the comfort of those precious beauties
Which shine from grace divine; and he’s a traitor
His lusts and riots, works out of his subjects
The means,†gs377
resources (especially financial)
by forging grants of the King᾿s favour.*n9566
Acting as broker on behalf of would-be monopolists and projectors was common courtly practice in the reigns of both James I and Charles I. Indeed, such courtly brokerage, which could involve a fee or a percentage of expected profits, was an important source of speculative income for some impoverished aristocrats at the early Stuart courts. Ferdinand is here accused of swindling his clients and his king alike by faking royal licenses and taking bribes for these documents.
gs377
n9566
643GabrielWhat my master has suffered by his forgeries
I know to be the shipwreck even of all
Except his daughter; and what his aim at her
Was, I think appears to you; and what she might
Have suffered by’t, we both may guess, only we hope
Her virtue would have been a guard to her beauty.
644Frederick’Tis plain he never loved her virtuously
That is fallen mad for another.
645GabrielThat madness is his fate, which renders him
Into my master’s hands to restore all again.
646FrederickBut as his fortune by the other’s ruin
Shall be advanced, I shall be more rejected.
Rejected, sir? By whom? Charissa’s constant to you,
And time will clear his frowns. And put you on
Now, the same confidence you had before
His wanting fortune raised a storm against you.
Your noble friend Sir Raphael has already
By learnèd reasons and court-oratory
Prevailed for you to visit her; and now
You're come within the verge†gs1730
bounds, limits or precincts of a particular place (OED n1, 11a, where the earliest example given for this sense is 1641)
o’th’ house, do you shrink?
gs1730
See, a good omen: they issue forth to meet you.
Enter MENDICANT, RAPHAEL [and] CHARISSA.
648Mendicant [not noticing FREDERICK and GABRIEL, who are at one side of the stage] I’ll hear no more on’t, sir, and am much sorry
Upon so vain a subject. Give me leave, then,
To wonder at your light inconstancy,
Your want of resolution, yea, of judgement.*n11559
Octavo of 1653 does not assign this sentence to Raphael. However, it does distinguish it from the immediately preceding sentence by situating it on a new line and indenting it. (At only two other points – [CB 3.1.line1473] and [CB 5.2.line2414] -- in Octavo of 1653 does indentation occur without a change of speaker, and each of these occurrences immediately follows the entrance of another character.) With its moral accusations and rhetorical manoeuvre, this second sentence sounds like Sir Raphael in oratorical flow, to which Gabriel draws attention.
n11559
650RaphaelDid you not give me leave to send for him,
Who now is come to tender his affection
[indicating FREDERICK and GABRIEL, to whom CHARISSA crosses]*n9349
This stage direction replaces one which in Octavo of 1653 is placed, parenthetically, to the right of the first three lines of MENDICANT's second speech in the scene ([CB 4.1.speech651]). Confusing `Fred[erick]' with `Ferd[inand]' [CB 4.1.line1766]), that stage direction reads: `Ferd; Char. and Gab. aside.' Octavo of 1653 does not provide a direction detaching Charissa from her father and Raphael and moving her to the side. Conventions of young love require that she move towards Ferdinand as soon as she sees him, which a gesture from Raphael would effect. For confusions of Ferdinand and Frederick within speech headings, see: [CB 4.3.line2066] with [NOTE n8975]; and [CB 4.3.line2230] with [NOTE n9035].
n9349
Unto your daughter?
651MendicantDid not you first promise
To give assurance of fit jointure†gg1144
marriage settlement (usually the part of a husband’s wealth or property that he elected to assign to his wife in the event of his death)
for her,
gg1144
Proportionable to her dowry,†gs704
the money or property which the wife brings to her husband; the portion given with the wife (OED dowry n, 2; dower n2, 2)
which
gs704
You now are started from?*n8846
That is: have withdrawn from (OED start v, 7).
n8846
652RaphaelI understood not
Nor can yet understand more of her dowry†gs704
the money or property which the wife brings to her husband; the portion given with the wife (OED dowry n, 2; dower n2, 2)
gs704
Than a thousand pound which her uncle left her,
And answerably to that I will make good her jointure.†gg1144
marriage settlement (usually the part of a husband’s wealth or property that he elected to assign to his wife in the event of his death)
gg1144
I mean to make her worth ten thousand more
Out of my estate in the mad Ferdinand,
Another ten thousand to redeem my land.
Ten thousand more I’ll keep in bank*n9568
That is: store, hoard (OED bank n3, III 7d).
for purchase.†gg5972
gain, financial advantage (OED n. 8a and 8c)
n9568
gg5972
654Raphael [Aside] A judgement’s fallen upon him: he’s mad too,
Sprung from the other’s misery.
655Mendicant [To Frederick] And so, sir, as you came you may depart.
For ‘less†gg5764
unless (OED conj)
you bring a thousand pound*n10143
According to the online currency converter of the National Archives on 15 July 2009, the spending power of £1000 in 1640 would be equivalent to £85,800 today.
per annum†gg5458
annually, by the year
gg5764
n10143
gg5458
T’assure upon her,*n8847
That is: to guarantee to her (as part of a marriage contract), to settle upon her in jointure: see OED v, 3 and 7a)
she’s no wife for you.
n8847
656Frederick [to RAPHAEL] Oh sir, you had better left me in that peace
I lately slept in, without any hope
Of seeing her again, than by your summons
To startle me back from a quiet death
To kill me thus with tantalizing†gg6051
proferring something desired but preventing its ever being grasped. In classical Greek mythology, Tantalus both betrayed divine secrets and butchered his son Pelops into a meal for the gods. For these horrendous crimes Tantalus was punished by being eternally dangled, upside down, just out of reach of water and food.
tortures.
gg6051
657MendicantThank then your learnèd friend, who failed me in
His undertaking for you, and for her.
If walls and locks can hold her, she no more
Shall tantalise you.
658RaphaelWherein have I failed, sir?
659MendicantSir, in assuring jointure†gg1144
marriage settlement (usually the part of a husband’s wealth or property that he elected to assign to his wife in the event of his death)
to her dowry.†gs704
the money or property which the wife brings to her husband; the portion given with the wife (OED dowry n, 2; dower n2, 2)
gg1144
gs704
660RaphaelSir, to no possible dowry you can give her;
When shall you take possession, think you, of your
Lordship of Lunacy in the Cynthian orb?*n8848
The reference is to the moon (`Cynthia' being another name for Diana, goddess of the moon in Greek and Roman mythology). Two lines previously in this speech, Sir Raphael has accused Sir Andrew of negotiating on the basis of an estate `i' th' Moon': ever the orator, he repeats the point with a grandiose circumlocution.
n8848
661MendicantI shall climb thither, sir, without the help
Of your heaven-scaling ladder of philosophy.*n9567
The image of philosophical enquiry as a ladder of gradual ascent to the divine goes back through Boethius to Plato. It is not a figure which Andrew Mendicant might be expected to have on the tip of his tongue, but in making him address it to Raphael Winterplum, Brome efficiently suggests Raphael's neo-Platonic pretensions.
n9567
662Raphael [Taking MENDICANT aside and whispering to him] Nay then, sir, hear me.
663MendicantWhat? In private, sir?
664FrederickRemember, sweet, your vow.
665CharissaMost constantly.
And let me conjure†gs1731
constrain by putting under oath (OED v. 3)
you by this. [CHARISSA] kisse[s FREDERICK].
gs1731
666FrederickAnd this– [FREDERICK kisses CHARISSA.]
667CharissaThat you forget not yours.
668Gabriel [positioning himself to block MENDICANT's view of CHARISSA and FREDERICK] Quick, quick! I’ll stand before you.
After a short long-seeming separation
To meet and reunite our vows and faiths
With greater strength and fervour.
670Mendicant [prising CHARISSA from FREDERICK] Ha! I’ll part you.
[To GABRIEL] And couldst thou stand their screen?
Thou treacherous varlet, out of my doors!
671GabrielFor what offence?
672MendicantDar’st*n8849
Octavo of 1653 reads `Darst', then still a possible form for the second-person singular indicative present of the verb `to dare'.
thou expostulate?†gg4561
argue
n8849
gg4561
Thou death-deserving villain!
[Drawing a sword on GABRIEL, MENDICANT] hurts him.
[To CHARISSA] And housewife,†gg4302
a worthless or impudent woman or girl (OED n. 2): pronounced ‘hussif’
get you in! [To GABRIEL, FREDERICK and RAPHAEL] You may depart, sirs!
gg4302
[To CHARISSA] Has your love blinded you? [seizing her hand] I’ll lead you then!
674MendicantWill you along??!!
675CharissaOh sir, you are unkind!
Love than a wilfull father is less blind.[MENDICANT and CHARISSA] exit
676RaphaelFriend, has he hurt thee?
677GabrielI am sure I bleed for’t.
678RaphaelWhy, how now, Frederick? Despair not, man.
He has vexed me, and out of my vexation
Shall spring thy comfort. I will labour for thee.
This watchful fury,*n9801
The furies or `Erinnyes' (`angry ones') were the avenging deities of classical Greek mythology. As they are often represented as a trio of goddesses, the transferred sense of the word `fury' often signifies a bad-tempered woman; but it can be used, without regard to gender, to liken someone to an infernal spirit (OED fury, n, 6). The likeness is rather more than Andrew Mendicant deserves for his display of paternal zeal, but the speaker is angry and his style of speech is, as usual, pretentious.
this Hesperian dragon.*n8850
In classical Greek mythology the eleventh of the twelve labours of Heracles was to fetch fruit from a golden apple-tree which Hera had entrusted to the Hesperides, daughters of Atlas. Because the Hesperides had been helping themselves to the golden apples, Hera set a hundred-headed dragon to guard the tree.
n9801
n8850
Say to thyself, and boldly, she’s thine own,
And for thy means,†gs377
resources (especially financial)
basta!†gg5767
enough (Italian)
let me alone.
gs377
gg5767
679FrederickYou are my noble patron.†gs1625
`a defender, a great friend that supporteth one' (John Bullokar, The English Expositor [1616]); protector
gs1625
680GabrielTurned away!
As I was his servingman, I am rewarded.
’Tis common with us creatures†gg40
one ready to do another's bidding, puppet (through patronage or devotion) (OED 5)
to [be]*n8851
This word is not in the octavo of 1653 but is necessary to make sense of the clause which constitutes this line.
served so:
gg40
n8851
But as I am no more his servant, I
Am free to vindicate myself out of
The wrong done to my blood (which is the same
With his) by him rejected and despised.
Enter CIT-WIT.
681Cit-witSir Andrew Mendicant at home?
682GabrielNot to be spoken with at this time, sir.
683Cit-witPray let him know that the Lady Strangelove
Requires him suddenly to remove his madman
Out of her house, or she must take a course
Much to his disadvantage.
684GabrielIn good time, sir.
[Aloud] And she advises him to find a better doctor for him,
For this has taken a wrong course.
[To RAPHAEL]
686GabrielSay you so, sir?
687Cit-witI’ll tell you as a secret. The physician thought to have cured his patient,
who has been a notable gamester†gs1581
professional dice-player (OED 3), lewd man (OED 5)
at in-and-in,†gs1580
gambling game played by 3 persons with 4 dice (OED n. 1a), here with an obvious sexual innuendo
*n8852
The clause contains a pair of double-entendres, (a) on `gamester' as `professional gambler'(OED 3) and as `person addicted to amorous activity' (OED 5), and (b) on `in-and-in' as a gambling game played by three persons with four dice and as a figure of sexual copulation. Both double entendres had meta-dramatic application to Sir John Suckling, whom Brome mocked through the character of Sir Ferdinand.
between my Lady’s legs.
If I and two or three more (but chiefly myself indeed) had not rescued her,
the doctor had held the lady cow to the mad bull.
gs1581
gs1580
n8852
688GabrielMay I believe this?
689Cit-wit [Aside] He thinks I lie now. And should
he gi’ me the lie,†gg5768
give me the lie, call me a liar to my face (OED n1. 2a)
the virtue†gg5770
worth, efficacy (OED n. II 9d)
of my
oath were questionable.†gg5769
liable to be called to account (OED 3)
*n8853
To paraphrase: `And if he were to accuse me, to my face, of lying, the worth of my oath would be tested.' Cit-wit is afraid that Gabriel, whose doubt he has registered, will call him a liar to his face. Were such an accusation to be made, Cit-wit could not ignore it: the situation would test the efficacy of the oath which Cit-wit swore to Swain-wit in the previous act and of which he keeps reminding the audience with his catch-phrase `I have sworn'.
gg5768
gg5770
gg5769
n8853
690GabrielIs this upon your knowledge, sir?
691Cit-witTrue upon my life. So farewell, honest friend.Exit [CIT-WIT].
692GabrielThis may prove sport and business*n8855
entertainment and occupation: having been sacked by Sir Andrew, Gabriel is now out of work.
too.
n8855
694GabrielWhat if you take me into that something too?
I guess it is some stratagem†gg5913
artifice or trick; a device or scheme for obtaining an advantage (OED 2)
to beguile
gg5913
The cautious father of his injured daughter.
695Raphael [To FREDERICK] This fellow will betray us.
696FrederickI will venture†gs1627
stake, hazard, gamble, lay
gs1627
All that I have, my fortune in Charissa,
On his fidelity, sir: his thoughts are mine.
697RaphaelCupid†gg3708
blind boy-god of love or infatuation, son of Venus
and Mercury†gg5771
in classical Roman mythology, the wing-footed divinity who presided over messages and commerce
favour our design!*n8860
In rhyming with Frederick's immediately preceding line, Sir Raphael's exclamation clinches a scene-closing couplet; and his appeal to these two classical Roman divinities matches Gabriel's expectation of `sport and business'.
[RAPHAEL, GABRIEL and FREDERICK exit.]*n9419
Octavo of 1653 reads: `Ex. Om.'.
gg3708
gg5771
n8860
n9419
4.2
Enter COURT-WIT and DOCTOR.
698Court-witYour judgement, by your favour,*n8972
That is: with your permission; if I may say so (OED n, 3). Court-wit is disarming the Doctor with a gracious formula.
Mr. Doctor,
n8972
Much failed you in that case.
699DoctorYour reason yet may plead
May argue much for you, she can hear none,
Nor any understand. The swift affrightment†gg5785
state or fact of being frightened or alarmed (OED 2)
gg5785
Upon her strength of passion,*n8885
That is: her emotional sensitivities: from `strength' as `power, faculty' (OED n, 5) and `passion' as `feeling' (n, 6a and b).
struck so deep
n8885
A sense into her,*n8886
That is: made such an impression on her.
that it*n8884
Octavo of 1653 reads 'is'.
has deprived her
n8886
n8884
Of all her proper†gs1583
own (OED adj. 4)
senses.†gg5786
wits, reason (OED n. 10a)
She is even mad, sir.
gs1583
gg5786
Pray, win her hither to see a madder object
Than is herself, and see how that will work.
702Court-witI’ll gladly add my pains unto your skill.[COURT-WIT] exits
703DoctorCome forth into the air. Conduct him gently.
Enter SERVANTS, [carrying FERDINAND in a chair].*n8887
In the first of four confusions of Ferdinand and Frederick on a single page (signature Q8v), Octavo of 1653 reads `Enter Frederick with the servants.' That he is being carried on in a chair is evident from Ferdinand's first line on entry.
n8887
704[Ferdinand]*n8888
Octavo of 1653 reads `Fre.', one of four confusions of Ferdinand and Frederick on a single page (signature Q8v).
Into the air! Set me upon Mount Lathmos,*n9802
Mountain on the Anatolian coast. In classical mythology, the goddess of the moon (Selene in Greek narratives, Diana in Latin ones) fell in love with a beautiful youth, Endymion, whom she saw sleeping there. Ferdinand here imagines himself on Mount Lathmos and there gazing at Diana. This reversal of the roles in the myth may upset cosmic order, but it produces a familiar gender configuration: active male gazes at passive female.
n8888
n9802
Where I may see and contemplate the beauty
Of my adored Diana,*n9794
in classical Roman mythology, the goddess of the moon, patroness of virginity and of hunting
or carry me
n9794
Up to Hymettus’†gg5815
mountain in Attica in Greece
top, Cytheron,†gg5814
mountain range in Greece, between Attica and Boetia, in classical Greek mythology, the scene of the dismemberment of Pentheus by the crazed Bacchantes, worshippers of Dionysus
Othris†gg5816
mountain in Thessaly in Greece, in classical Greek mythology, home of the Titans
or Pindus,†gg5817
mountain in the Epirus in Greece, home of the centaurs (half human, half horse) in classical Greek mythology
gg5815
gg5814
gg5816
gg5817
Or tarry, stay: perhaps she hunts today
I’ th’ woods of Marathon,†gg5818
plain in Attica in Greece, famous as site of battle at which, in 490 BC, the Greeks repulsed an invading army of Persians
or Erymanthus.†gg5819
mountain range between Arcadia and Achaia in Greece, in Greek mythology the haunt of an enormous wild boar which, in the third of his twelve labours, Hercules captured
gg5818
gg5819
705DoctorThat’s a long journey, sir.
706[Ferdinand]*n8889
Octavo of 1653 reads `Fre.', one of four confusions of Ferdinand and Frederick on a single page (signature Q8v).
You’re a long-bearded fool.
n8889
707DoctorI thought I had been a physician. But sir,
You shall not need t’expose yourself to travel:
Your goddess will descend into this garden.
Pass but time here a while and she’ll come to you.
708[Ferdinand]*n8890
Octavo of 1653 reads `Fre.', one of four confusions of Ferdinand and Frederick on a single page (signature Q8v).
We will have jovial pastime.*n9803
Picking up the Doctor's advice to `pass...time' Ferdinand uses different senses of `jovial' to move from one subject to another. One sense (OED 1, now obsolete) is `Jove-like: the classical Roman god Jove (also known to the Romans as Jupiter, and to the Greeks as Zeus) was notorious for his amorous pastimes. The other sense (OED 6) in play here is `merry, jolly'.
Shall we run
n8890
n9803
At base,*n8891
Base is a game played by two sides, who occupy contiguous ‘bases’ or ‘homes’; any player running out from his ‘base’ is chased by one of the opposite side, and, if caught, made a prisoner (OED base sup2, where this game is said to be for boys, and where the earliest cited example of the phrase `run at base' is inaccurately dated from 1653).
or leapfrog, or dance naked
n8891
To entertain her, or what do you think
Of downright†gs1584
plain; mere (OED adj, 2a and 2b)
drink and singing?
gs1584
709DoctorThat’s best of all.
710FerdinandLet’s have a mad†gg5787
exuberant, chaotic (OED adj. 7a, where the earliest instance of this sense being predicated of an action -- rather than as earlier, of a person -- is dated inaccurately as from 1650)
catch†gs1585
catch: round in which the words are so arranged that one singer picks up the word[s] of another (OED n1. 14)
then.
gg5787
gs1585
Enter COURT-[WIT,] SWAIN[-WIT and] STRANGELOVE.*n8892
] Octavo of 1653 reads: `Enter Court-Swaine. Strangelove.'
n8892
711Court-witHere, Madam, may you see the madman’s revels
712Swain-witAnd after that the doctor’s tragicomedy.*n8893
Court-wit uses the word `revels' in its general sense as `merry-makings', but Swain-wit responds to its specific sense as `a courtly household entertainment'. In so doing, he opposes it to another entertainment -- tragicomedy, generally a play which mixed tragedy and comedy, and specifically one in which that mixture included a most unexpectedly happy resolution of the plot. (The form was much in fashion in early Stuart theatre.) He also, of course, answers `madman' with `doctor'.
n8893
713FerdinandAre not your windpipes tuned*n9804
The windpipe is the trachea; but according to the OED, at this time the plural form `windpipes' could collectively designate all of the larger respiratory tubes -- the bronchi as well as the trachea. Ferdinand's use of the plural form does not necessarily indicate that he is addressing more than one person: he could be speaking to the Doctor, to the Servants, or to both the Doctor and the Servants. The sense of the image is, however, clear: having just demanded that a catch be sung, Ferdinand imagines the human respiratory system as a musical instrument.
yet? Sing a catch!†gs1585
catch: round in which the words are so arranged that one singer picks up the word[s] of another (OED n1. 14)
*n9420
In Octavo of 1653, the second and third words in this command are presented as a stage direction: they are printed on a separate line, and there centred. (See [CB 4.2.line1913].) Unlike the Act 2 stage direction which calls for `A catch' (after [CB 2.1.speech303]) and unlike the stage direction which calls for `Song' further on in the present scene (after [CB 4.2.speech747]), however, the words `A catch' are not italicised here in Ferdinand's speech ([CB 4.2.speech713]). The absence of italicisation is not decisive evidence that they are to be construed as dialogue rather than as a stage direction: the very next such direction, which elaborately prescribes Ferdinand's mad dance, is not italicised either. The words `a catch' do, however, complete both the predication and the meter of Ferdinand's command. Having demanded `a mad catch' from the Doctor a few lines earlier (at [CB 4.2.speech 710]), he repeats the demand after Court-wit's re-entry with Strangelove (whom Ferdinand does not notice). Whether the demand for a catch is met is uncertain: a catch cannot be sung solo, but the Servants are at hand to join voices with Frederick's. (They have not been given an exit: their services will be required too soon for them to make one.) Yet this sequence about singing segues into the next turn: the joke of Ferdinand's dance routine will be that he cavorts as if he were four or six people, including women. The same joke may be in play around his call for a catch.
n9804
gs1585
n9420
So, now a dance! [Rising from his chair and cavorting about] I am all air! A-hey! A-hey!†gg5788
Hey-ho! Hey-ho!
*n8894
Octavo of 1653 reads: `---Ahaigh---Ahaigh'.
gg5788
n8894
I thank thee, Mercury,†gg5771
in classical Roman mythology, the wing-footed divinity who presided over messages and commerce
that hast lent thy wings
gg5771
Unto my feet. Play me my country dance.
Stand all you by. These lasses and these swains
Are for my company.
He dances a conceited†gg5820
whimsical, fantastical (OED ppl a, 4)
country dance, first doing
his honours,†gg5801
obeisances; bows or curtsies
then as†gg1000
as if
leading forth his lass. He dances
both man and woman’s actions, as if the dance consisted
of two or three couples. At last as†gs1586
when (OED adv. 16a), but retaining sense `as if'
offering to kiss his
lass, he fancies that they are all vanished, and espies
Strangelove.
gg5820
gg5801
gg1000
gs1586
How now! all vanished, ha!
It is no marvel that the lesser lights
Become obscured when Cynthia appears,*n8900
Ferdinand's circumlocution posits that just as the brightness of the stars seems to dwindle when the moon (figured as Cynthia, its goddess in classical Roman mythology) comes out, so his dancing partners have disappeared from sight with the appearance of Lady Strangelove. The analogy thus explains why he can no longer see these imaginary figures.
n8900
Let me with adoration fall before
Thy deity, great goddess.
714StrangeloveKeep him from me.
715Swain-witYou must approach no nearer, sir. The goddess
Is not so confident in her divinity
As to trust you in reach of her.
716Court-witKeep back, sir.
717FerdinandWhat Hydras,†gg5821
in classical Greek mythology, the Hydra was a huge serpent which breathed poison vapours from its nine heads, one of which was immortal and the others not removed but doubled by decapitation (it infested a marsh at Lerna in the Peloponnese, where Hercules dispatched it as the second of his twelve labours)
Gorgons†gg5822
in classical Greek mythology, the Gorgons (Stheno, Euryale and Medusa) had wings on their shoulders, serpents for hair, boars' tusks for teeth, and bronze hands (of these three sisters, only Medusa, the ugliest, was mortal)
and Chimeras†gg5823
in classical Greek mythology, the Chimera was a fire-breathing monster (part lion, part goat, and part serpent) who was slain by the Corinthian hero, Bellerophon
are you,
gg5821
gg5822
gg5823
Centaurs†gg5824
Greek mythological creatures who were half human and half horse
and Harpies,†gg5825
in classical mythology, monsters who had the faces and breasts of women but the wings and bodies of birds and who fouled everything they touched
that dare interpose
gg5824
gg5825
Between my hopes and my felicity?
718Court-witDoctor, away with him.
719DoctorCarry him to his chamber,
And hold him down. His raging fit is on him.
720FerdinandWas night made to surprise men at noonday?
Or shall the charms of Hecate take force
To dim Apollo’s brightness?*n8973
Across classical Greek mythology, Hecate's identity is somewhat fluid. In this context, she is the moon goddess of witchcraft and her darkening charms are opposed to the brightness of Apollo, the sun god of poetry and prophecy, with whom Sir Ferdinand madly associates himself.
So’t must be,
n8973
When gods themselves give way to destiny.
[SERVANTS, having forced FERDINAND back into his chair, carry him offstage.]*n9421
Octavo of 1653 reads `Exiunt [they exit] with Ferd[inand].' `Exiunt' should be `Exeunt'.
n9421
721Swain-wit [Pulling DOCTOR back from the departing
group]*n9422
In Octavo of 1653 the corresponding stage direction is placed, parenthetically, to the right across Swain-wit's command and the Doctor's question. It reads: 'Swa. pulls back the Doctor.'
They are enough to hold and bind him too.
n9422
Come you afore the lady.
722DoctorWhat’s her pleasure?
723Swain-wit’Tis to do justice upon thee, O Doctor.
Stir, or cry out, or give the least resistance,
And I will cut thy head off before judgement.
724DoctorWhat outrage do you intend?
725Court-witOutrage! Can you think of an outrage above the horror you offered to this lady,
to violate her chastity? Her honour?
726DoctorYou cannot say so.
727Swain-wit’Tis said, and you are guilty. Proceed to judgement, Madam.
728StrangeloveI first would hear your censures.†gs1628
formal judgements or opinions of an expert, referee, etc. (OED 2)
gs1628
Enter CIT-WIT.
729Cit-witAnd mine among the rest, good Madam. I have taken care that a new doctor shall be brought.
Therefore in the first place my censure is that this be presently†gg103
immediately (OED adv. 3); without delay
hanged out o’ the way.†gg5802
executed by hanging (OED way n1, IV 37i)
gg103
gg5802
730Court-witThat’s too high strained.*n8945
That is: excessive (with play on the notions of a gallows being taller than the height of its victim and a hanging rope being strained by his/her weight).
What think you, Madam,
if to rectify†gg876
set right, reform, remedy
his judgement,
we picked†gg5803
gathered, plucked (OED v1. 12a)
all the errors
of his brain: first, opening the pericranium,*n8946
Octavo of 1653 reads `pericranion'. In medical parlance (OED 1), the term designates the membrane which envelops the skull; but Court-wit is deploying it in its general sense as the skull itself (OED 2).
then take out the cerebrum,†gg5804
brain
wash it in albo vino,†gg5971
Latin meaning `white wine', a common pharmaceutical ingredient of the time
till it be thoroughly*n8948
Octavo of 1653 reads `throughy', an easy typographical error for `throughly'.
cleansed, and then —
n8945
gg876
gg5803
n8946
gg5804
gg5971
n8948
731Swain-witPox o’ your albo vino and his cerebrum taking out!
That were a way to kill him. We must not be guilty*n8947
Octavo of 1653 reads `guily'.
of the death of a dog-leech,†gg5806
ignorant medical practitioner; quack (OED n. 2)
but have him purged†gg5805
cleansed, purified
a safer way.
n8947
gg5806
gg5805
732StrangeloveHow? Proceed.
733Swain-witWe will fill his belly full of whey, or buttermilk, put him naked into a hogshead,†gg5807
large cask for liquids (OED 1)
then put into the same an hundred broken urinals, then close up the vessel and roll your garden with it.
gg5807
734DoctorI trust they cannot mean any such mischief.
[Horn blows offstage.]*n9423
In Octavo of 1653, the corresponding stage direction reads: 'A Guilders horne.' It is placed, parenthetically and to the right, across two lines -- the one in which Strangelove draws attention to it, and then the reply in which Cit-wit identifies the source. The link between sowgelders and horns was sufficiently familiar for Thomas Middleton to make use of it in a pamphlet of 1604. In Father Hubburds Tales: or The Ant and the Nightingale there is a description of a tobacco-smoker 'winding the pipe like a horn at the pie-corner of his mouth, which must needs make him look like a sow-gelder' (ed. Adrian Weiss in Thomas Middleton: The Collected Works, ed. Gary Taylor, John Lavagnino, et al. [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2007], 172).
n9423
735StrangeloveHark ye, gentlemen! Do you hear?
n10258
The 13 December 2008 workshop session on the Sowgelder sequence proved extremely productive. Principal among the points which it raised were: the effect of direct address to the audience; the dynamic between the punitive group and their victim, the Doctor; the matter-of-fact way in which the threat is presented to him; the extent to which that threat is a performance by which the Doctor is completely taken in; and finally the transformation of the physical threat into humiliation. All of these discoveries were evident in the final run-through .
n10258
.
736Cit-witYes, Madam, ’tis a sow-gelder.†gg2258
someone who makes a living by gelding or spaying sows (OED)
gg2258
737StrangeloveFetch in that minister of justice.
738Cit-witWho, Madam? The sow-gelder?†gg2258
someone who makes a living by gelding or spaying sows (OED)
gg2258
740Cit-witThat will be sport indeed.Exit [CIT-WIT].
741Court-witBut will you see the execution, Madam?
742StrangeloveWhy not as well as other women have
Seen the dissections of anatomies,†gg5808
dissected corpses; bodies used for dissection (OED n. 2a and 2b)
*n8949
Octavo of 1653 reads `Anotamies'.
*n9192
The Barber-Surgeons' Company (a single professional body from 1540 to 1745) of London used dissection for anatomy lectures, which covered viscera, muscles and bones. The lectures were partly for the benefit of members of the company, whose regulations required attendance (in gowns) at a certain number every year. They also were public occasions, evidently intended to impress the uninitiated, and as Lady Strangelove's line implies, people were indeed attracted to them. In 1636 the Barber-Surgeons commissioned an anatomical theatre from Inigo Jones, whose designs for it are startlingly similar to his plans for playhouses. Visual representations of anatomies staged there and elsewhere in northern Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are numerous. In these images, however, women are rarely to be seen save on the dissecting table; and the few female figures that are discernible elsewhere prove, on close scrutiny, to be allegorical. See: Jessie Dobson and R.Milnes Walker, Barbers and barber-surgeons of London (London: Blackwell, 1979); Michael Neill, `The Stage of Death: Tragedy and Anatomy', in Issues of Death (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997, paperback 1998),102-140 ; and Jonathan Sawday, The Body Emblazoned (London: Routledge, 1995), 41-46, 56-77, 183-4.
gg5808
n8949
n9192
And executed men ripped up and quartered?*n9193
Lady Strangelove here refers to the public disembowelling and dismemberment of persons who had been convicted of treason and therefore condemned to be dragged to a site of execution and there hung, drawn and quartered. There is much evidence for the presence of women in the crowds at such executions.
n9193
This spectacle will be comical to those.
743DoctorThey dare not do the thing they would have me fear.
744Swain-witNow, Doctor, you look heavily,†gg5910
sorrowfully, angrily (OED adv. 3); burdensomely, weightily (OED adv. 1)
methinks,
gg5910
You shall be lighter by two stone†gg5911
unit of weight which varies with different commodities but is equivalent to 14 pounds avoirdupois when used in stating human weight (OED n. 14a)
presently.†gg103
immediately (OED adv. 3); without delay
*n9191
A double pun, playing on two senses of `you look heavily' (`you are scowling' and `you appear to be overweight') and of `two stone' (`pair of testicles' and `28 pounds avoirdupois').
gg5911
gg103
n9191
745DoctorYou will not murder me?
746Swain-witStir not, nor make least noise,
As you hope ever to be heard again.
747DoctorI would I could pray now to any purpose.
748Cit-witI have brought him: the rarest†gg5912
finest, worthiest (OED rare adj 1 , 5a)
fellow, Madam.
gg5912
[To DOCTOR] And do you thank your fortune in him, Doctor,
For he can sing a charm (he says) shall make
No tooth-drawer†gg5811
person who extracts teeth; dentist (OED 1)
or corn-cutter†gg5812
person who cuts corns off feet; chiropodist
did ever work
gg5811
gg5812
749StrangeloveSing then: he shall not suffer without a song.
Song.
750Swain-witWhat, must he be stripped now? Or will letting down his breeches be enough?
751DoctorYou dare not use this violence upon me
More rude than rage of prentices.†gs1629
apprentices
*n11550
On Shrove Tuesday 1617, London apprentices went on the rampage. One of their targets was the Cockpit Theatre in Drury Lane, newly converted by Christopher Beeston. (Rapidly repaired after the wreckage, the playhouse also became known as the Phoenix.) The damage, which was serious and involved costumes and playbooks as well as the fabric of the building, would have been well remembered when Brome wrote The Court Beggar for performance there. For contemporary accounts, see Herbert Berry, `The Phoenix’, in Glynne Wickham, Herbert Berry and William Ingram, eds., English Professional Theatre, 1530-1660 (Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp. 623-637, especially 628-9.
gs1629
n11550
752Cit-witDoctor, it is decreed.
753DoctorYou cannot answer it.
754Court-witBetter by law than you can the intent
Of rape upon the lady.
[SOW-GELDER, who has been unpacking his professional equipment, gets it ready for use: he whets
his knife, lays out linen, places a basin by table.]*n9424
In Octavo of 1653, the corresponding stage direction is placed, parenthetically and to the right, across seven lines (beginning at [CB 4.3.line2005] and corresponding to [CB 4.3.speech754] through the first three of Swain-wit's commands in [CB 4.3.speech756]). It reads: `Guelder whets his knife and all in preparation, Linnen, Bason, &c.' As the final abbreviation -- et c[etera], meaning `and other things' -- suggests, and as workshop session confirmed, the performance possibilities for this sequence are numerous.
n9424
755DoctorThat was not to have been my act,
nor was it done.
756Swain-witWhen this is done we’ll talk w’ye.
[To COURT-WIT and CIT-WIT] Come, lay him cross†gg5904
across (OED prep)
this table. Hold each of you a leg of him,
[To DOCTOR] and hold you your peace, Dodipoll. And for his arms let
me alone. [SWAIN-WIT, COURT-WIT and CIT-WIT position themselves accordingly.] Do your work, gelder.
gg5904
757DoctorHold! I have a secret to deliver to my Lady.
758Swain-witYou shall be delivered†gg5903
divested, rid (OED v1. 2a)
of your secrets†gg5905
private parts (OED n pl, 6)
presently.†gg103
immediately (OED adv. 3); without delay
gg5903
gg5905
gg103
Then let me suffer. Hear me, sweet Madam.
761Swain-wit‘Sweet’, sayst? Thou art not, I’ll be sworn.*n9186
This speech ([CB 4.3.speech761]) is the first of three (the others being CB 4.3.speech767] and [CB 4.3.speech771]) in which Swain-wit indicates that the Doctor has been shitting himself in fear. The fact that only Swain-wit comments on this indicates the speaker's characteristically rude bluntness and/or his position (as required by the penultimate sentence of [CB 4.2.speech756]) behind the Doctor when that character sits up and rolls off the table. Beyond the dramatic fiction, the Doctor's self-befoulment is another jibe at Sir John Suckling's reported conduct at the front in the first Bishops's War. According to the seventh and ninth of ten stanzas in a derisive ballad: ` For when the Scots army came within sight,/ And all men prepared to fight-a,/ He ran to his tent; they ask'd what he meant;/ he swore he must needs goe shite-a'; and `To cure his fear, he was sent to the rere,/ Some ten miles back, and more-a;/ Where he did play at tre trip for hay,/ And ne'er saw the enemy more-a.' Reprinting the ballad in English and Scottish Ballads (Vol. 7, [1859], 128-131), Child recorded that it is `sometimes attributed to Suckling himself'.
n9186
762StrangeloveWell, sir, your weighty secret now to save your trifles.†gs1588
testicles (ironic paraphrasis)
gs1588
763DoctorIn private, I beseech you, Madam, for I dare but whisper’t.
764StrangeloveYou shall allow me so much wariness†gg4633
concern; caution; circumspection
as to have one at least to be my guard, and witness.
gg4633
765Doctor [Indicating COURT-WIT] This gentleman, then, Madam.
767Swain-witNo matter. I list not be no nearer him: no more would my cousin had he my nose.*n9194
Swain-wit's relative is Court-wit, whom the Doctor has just selected to be the personal guard demanded by Strangelove. The implication is that Court-wit (unlike Swain-wit) cannot smell the Doctor's faeces. The line thus serves both to restate the Doctor's shitty condition and also, beyond the dramatic fiction, to mock the syphilitic nose (or lack of nose) of Sir William Davenant, the courtier poet and playwright to whom Brome repeatedly refers through the figure of Court-wit.
But where’s Mr. Dainty and your finical†gg3940
over-particular or affectedly fastidious
Mistress Phil all this while tho’?
n9194
gg3940
768Cit-witNo matter, but I ha’ sworn,†gg1956
promised by oath
you know. Therefore I say no more, but I have sworn.
gg1956
769Court-witWhat a strange tale is this! I can’t believe it.
770StrangeloveI do, and did before suspect it and framed†gg737
prepared; composed; uttered; imagined (it does not yet mean to ‘frame’ someone by devising a plot against them)
this counterfeit†gg3082
pretended, spurious, feigned, acted (OED adj. 2)
plot upon you, Doctor,
to work out the discovery: would I ha’ seen you gelt, d’ye*n8974
Octavo of 1653 reads `dee'.
think?
That would have rendered me more brutish than the women barbers. Look, sir, this is no gelder,
but one of my house music.†gg5828
household musicians
[To SOW-GELDER] Go,*n9744
Octavo of 1653 reads: `(Goe'. The open-parenthesis sign suggests that the compositor may have construed the word as the beginning of a stage direction and omitted to remove it when he realised otherwise.
your part is done. Exit [SOW-GELDER].
And for th’affright you gave me, Doctor, I am even w’ye.
gg737
gg3082
n8974
gg5828
n9744
771Swain-witThe Devil fright him next for a spurging†gg5826
shitting, defecating, bowel-emptying (from OED spurge v1: to empty or relieve the bowels by evacuation)
skitterbrook!†gg5095
one who befouls his breeches; a coward (this would appear to be a Brome coinage, as the OED cites the only usages as occurring in The Novella [NV 4.2.speech583] and in The Court Beggar [CB 4.2.speech771])
’Twere
good you would call to burn some perfumes,†gg5827
fumigants, incense
Madam.
gg5826
gg5095
gg5827
772StrangeloveBut for the secret you have told me, I’ll keep it secret yet. I will keep you so too,
and from your patient.
Enter BOY.
773[Boy]*n9187
Octavo of 1653 does not provide a speech heading for the Boy immediately after his entrance, but this is obviously his line.
There’s a new doctor come already, Madam,
n9187
To the madman.
774StrangeloveFrom Sir Andrew Mendicant?
775BoyHis servant brought him.
776DoctorI pray, what doctor is it?
777StrangeloveEngage yourself with no desire to know,
But, for the good you find, fit thanks to owe.
So, come with me, and come you, gentlemen.[BOY, STRANGELOVE, DOCTOR, CIT-WIT,
COURT-WIT and SWAIN-WIT] all exit.
COURT-WIT and SWAIN-WIT] all exit.
4.3
Enter FREDERICK [disguised by a beard and dressed] in a doctor’s habit [which conceals a dagger]; GABRIEL with two
swords under his cloak; FERDINAND upon a bed [where he is]
bound and held down by SERVANTS.
778FerdinandHeap yet more mountains, mountains upon
Mountains, Pindus†gg5817
mountain in the Epirus in Greece, home of the centaurs (half human, half horse) in classical Greek mythology
on Ossa,†gg5829
mountain in Thessaly in Greece, in classical Greek mythology used by the Titans in an unsuccessful attempt to scale neighbouring Mount Olympus, home of the gods
Atlas†gg5830
Classical Greek mythology includes more than one mountain of this name, which is also borne by the Titan who, in punishment for rebellion against the Olympian gods, supports the pillar of the world upon his shoulders
on Olympus,†gg5831
Steep-sided mountain (9000+ feet), part of an identically-named chain in northwest Greece and home of the gods in Greek classical mythology
gg5817
gg5829
gg5830
gg5831
I’ll carry that which carries heaven, do you
But lay’t upon me!
779Frederick [To SERVANTS] Forbear! You’ll stifle him.
Take off the needless weight of your rude bodies.
Unbind him and stand off, to give him air.
780ServantSir, though you are a physician, I am no fool. Take heed what you do. He’s more than six of us
hold when his hot fit’s upon him.*n9805
According to the Servant, Ferdinand's strength in insanity exceeds that of six servants. Being offered by way of warning, this claim is likely to be overstated, and in any case it can refer to events imagined offstage. On its own, then, it cannot be taken as certain evidence of the number of servants accompanying Ferdinand. In context of a play written for performance at the Cockpit in 1640/1, however, it does strengthen the already obvious hypothesis that these supernumerary roles were played by the youngest of Beeston's Boys.
He would now tear you to pieces should you let him loose.
n9805
781[Frederick]*n8975
Octavo of 1653 reads `Fer': see [CB 4.3.line2066]. See also: [CB 4.3.line2230] with [NOTE n9035]; and [CB 4.1.line1766] with [NOTE n9349].
The danger, then, be mine. Let him sit up. [SERVANTS move away from bed, on which FERDINAND now sits up.] Is not he civil†gs1620
gentle (OED adj. 11)
now?
n8975
gs1620
782ServantAye, for how long? do you note that Hercules eye*n9190
The Servant is saying that Ferdinand looks insane. The wife of the ancient Greek mythological hero Hercules was tricked into giving him a shirt soaked in the blood of a centaur whom he had killed. When Hercules put on the shirt, the burning pain which it caused literally infuriated him, and he could not take it off. He raged about, did colossal damage, and finally committed suicide. The grandeur of this story ridicules Ferdinand by implied comparison, and the line invites business to make him seem sillier still.
there?
n9190
784Servant’Tis but to come again when we are called.
785FrederickBe not within the hearing of a call,
Or if you chance to hear me, though I cry
’Murder!’, I charge you come not at me.
786Servant’Tis but a doctor out o’ the way; and that’s no loss while there are so many, the best cannot live by the worst. [SERVANTS exit.]
787Frederick [To GABRIEL, who does as he is told] Keep the door fast.†gg255
secure
[To FERDINAND, who is still on the bed] You are much missed abroad, sir,
gg255
The courtships, banquets, and the costly presents
788FerdinandHa —
789FrederickNay, nay, sit still, sir. They say you’re mad,
Before your time, that is, before you had merit
More than a tumour†gg5832
swelling, bubble (OED 4)
of vainglory†gg6073
inordinate or unwarranted pride in one's accomplishments or qualities; disposition or tendency to exalt oneself unduly (OED n. 1)
in you;
gg5832
gg6073
And in especial care for your recovery
I am sent to administer unto you: but first
To let you blood.
[FREDERICK produces a] dagger.
790FerdinandHo! Murder, Murder, Murder!
Nor cry too loud. Does the mere apprehension
Of blood-letting affright your madness? Then
Reason may come again.
[FREDERICK uses dagger to cut FERDINAND's restraints.]
792Ferdinand [Getting to his feet and moving away from FREDERICK with his dagger] The battle of Musselburgh Field*n8976
1547 battle in which the English forces trounced the Scots and about which there survives a ballad rejoicing in the rout. Sir Ferdinand's mad persistence in performing this ballad, actions and all, despite Frederick's attempts to silence him, mocks both the general humiliation of English forces by the Scots in the hostilities of 1639 and 1640, and Sir John Suckling's particularly poor showing on those occasions. (See Introduction.) The text of the ballad was printed in Thomas Percy's Reliques of ancient English Poetry (1765) and in Francis Child's The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (1882-1898). It is here modernised from http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=4089:
On the tenth day of December,/
And the [first] year of King Edward's reign,/
At Musselburgh, as I remember,/
Two goodly hosts there met on a plain/
All that night they camped there,/
So did the Scots, both stout and stubborn;/
But, "Welladay," it was their song,/
For we haue taken them in their own turn./
Overnight they carded for our Englishmen's coats;/
They fished before their nets were spun:/
A white for sixpence, a red for two groats;/
Now wisdom would haue stayed till they had been won./
We feared not but that they would fight,/
Yet it was turned unto their own pain;/
Tho' against one of us that they were eight,/
Yet with their own weapons we did them beat./
On the twelfth day in the morn/
They made a face as they would fight,/
But many a proud Scot there was down
born,/
And any a rank coward was put to flight./
But when they heard our great guns crack,/
Then was their hearts turned into their hose;/
They cast down their weapons, and turned their backs,/
They ran so fast that they fell on their nose./
The Lord Huntly, we had him there;/
With him he brought ten thousand men,/
Yet, God be thanked, we made them such a banquet/
That none of them returned again./
We chased them to Dalkeith.
was a brave one.
n8976
793FrederickOh, do you fly out again?
FERD[INAND] sings part of the old song, and acts it madly.*n8977
The part of the old song which is most apposite to Sir John Suckling's reputation is also the part which would be easiest for Ferdinand to act out -- the verse about the Scots gambling at cards for the Englishmen's outfits without having won them first.
n8977
794FrederickThis is pretty,†gs1621
skilful, artful (OED adj. 1); charming (OED adj. 2b)
but back†gg5907
away (OED adv. 2)
from the purpose.
gs1621
gg5907
795FrederickWill you come to the point, sir?
FERDINAND sings again.
796FrederickWe but lose time in this, sir, though it be good testimony of your memory in an old song. But do you know me?
797Ferdinand [Falling to his knees before FREDERICK] Not know my sovereign lord? Cursed be those knees
And hearts that fall not prostrate at his feet!*n9439
Octavo of 1653 presents this speech ([CB 4.3.speech797]); but by Brome's metrical standards, it is fairly regular blank verse. The joke, of course, is that Ferdinand speaks as if Frederick were the king: courtly decorum in drama requires that he do so in verse.
n9439
798FrederickThis wild submission no way mitigates
My wrongs, or alters resolution in me
To cure or kill you quickly.
[Removing his false beard and doctor's gown and casting them upon the bed]*n9438
In Octavo of 1653 the corresponding stage direction is placed, parenthetically and to the right, across three lines (the third through fifth of Frederick's speech at [CB 4.3.speech798]). It reads: `Off his beard & gown.' Frederick's placement of those items of disguise on the bed would facilitate their removal from the stage at scene's end.
n9438
Do you know me now, sir?
Or have you known Charissa? Do you start, sir?
There’s sign of reason in you, then; but be’t
By reason or by chance, that you awake
My cause and my revenge is still the same,
Since, reasonless, you laid those wrongs upon me
To trample on his betters.
799FerdinandWho talks this mortal to? I am a spirit.
800FrederickSure, I shall find you flesh, and penetrable.
801FerdinandI would but live to subdue the Pisidians,
And so to bring the Lydians under tribute*n9440
Still making fun of Sir John Suckling's incompetence as a soldier, Ferdinand's mad talk continues in military mode but moves two millennia back in time and many miles away to Asia Minor. He speaks as Cyrus (the Younger), who in 401 BC led an enormous army in rebellion against his elder brother Ataxerxes, King of Persia. The initial pretext for raising the army was to tighten Persian control over the Pisidians, hill tribes above the coast of what is now Turkey. Although that bluff was successful, the campaign eventually cost Cyrus his life. Xenophon, who was one of 10000 Greeks in Cyrus's army, recorded the campaign in the Anabasis [Going-Up]. This model text of classical military history was widely available both in Xenophon's Greek and in English translation.
—
n9440
802FrederickYou would but live t’abuse more credulous fathers
With courtly promises and golden hopes
For your own lustful ends upon their daughters.
Think (if you can think now) upon Charissa,
Charissa who was mine in faith and honour,
Till you ignobly (which is damnably)
By a false promise with intent to whore her
Diverted her weak father from the match
To my eternal loss. Now whether you
Or whether you have one, or ten men’s strength,
Or all, or none at all, I’ll fight or kill you.
Yet, like a gentleman, I’ll call upon you.
[Throwing away his dagger]*n9442
In Octavo of 1653, the corresponding stage direction is placed, parenthetically and to the right, across two lines (the second and third from last in [CB 4.3.speech802]). It reads: `Throw away his dags.' The stage direction cuing Frederick's introduction of a weapon into the scene had called for only a `Dagger.' [CB 4.3.speech789]. A typographical error has probably occurred in one stage direction or the other: compare [CB 4.3.line2089] with [CB4.3.line2136]. Since only one dagger is required by the intervening dialogue, during which Frederick needs to keep one hand free for removal of his disguise as a physician, this edition has opted for a single dagger.
n9442
[To GABRIEL, who moves downstage on summons] Give me the swords. [To FERDINAND] They are of equal length:
Take you free choice.
Run[ning] back [from the swords which FREDERICK is presenting to him].
804FrederickI cast that to you then. [Throwing one of the swords to FERDINAND] Hand†gg6052
lay hold of, grasp (OED v. 1)
it, or die a
gg6052
Madman.
805FerdinandO, ho, ho, ho–*n9443
The minimal dialogue which is here assigned to Ferdinand (and then broken off) suggests that he continues to act the madman while Gabriel and Frederick discuss his condition in speeches Nos. 803 to 806, the last line of which will produce a visible (and obviously sane) reaction from Ferdinand.
n9443
807FrederickI have a cause to be more mad than he,
And in that cause I’ll fight.
808GabrielHe knows not what you tell him.
809FrederickI tell’t the devil in him, then, to divulge it
When I have dispossessed him.*n9806
exorcised. Getting no reply from Ferdinand himself, Frederick undertakes to address the devil in him. The construction of insanity as diabolical possession was common: see Michael MacDonald, Mystical Bedlam (Cambridge University Press, 1981) pp. 9-10, 155-6, 205-7.
I have further
n9806
Reason to kill him yet to cross your master,
Who has begged his estate. [To FERDINAND] Now fight or die a madman!
810Ferdinand [Visibly coming to his senses] Hold, Frederick, hold! Thou hast indeed awaked
Me to see thee and myself.
811Gabriel [Aside] He’s not so mad to fight yet: I see that.
812FrederickI’m glad you are yourself, sir. I shall fight
Now upon honourable terms, and could
Suppose before your madness counterfeit.
813FerdinandYet hold. Has Mendicant begged me?
814FrederickDuring your madness. What should hinder him?
815FerdinandPut up thy sword.
816FrederickUpon no terms, and you alive.
817FerdinandNot to obtain Charissa?
818Frederick [Relenting, but not sheathing sword] As you guessed, sir.
Her father’s grant.
820FrederickThat’s most unquestionable.
821FerdinandNot that I dare not fight, do I urge this,
But that the other is your safer way.
822FrederickYour gold’s too light. I will accept of nothing
From you while you dare tell me you dare fight.
Perhaps you doubt of odds. [To GABRIEL] Go forth. [To FERDINAND] Nay, I
Will lock him out.
823GabrielYou may:
For I dare trust you while I go call the lady.Exit [GABRIEL].
824FrederickNow, are you pleased, or dare you now to fight, sir?
825FerdinandI neither will nor dare fight in this cause.
826FrederickThis is a daring courtier!
And why take madness in you, to be bound
And grappled with so rudely?
827FerdinandKeep my counsel,†gs274
secret
gs274
And take Charissa.
828Frederick‘Tis a fair condition.
829FerdinandFirst, for the wrong I did thee, noble youth
In my design against Charissa’s honour,
It is confessed, repented, and herself
For satisfaction to be given to thee.
I’ll fall upon thy sword else, or be posted,†gg5841
disgraced by having shameful facts made known, even advertised upon a placard or notice (OED v1. 3a and 3b)
gg5841
And balladed†gg5842
made the subject of a scurrilous ballad (OED v. 2)
with all disgrace.
gg5842
830FrederickWell yet.
831FerdinandAnd for my shew of madness, ’twas put on
For my revenge on this impetuous lady
To cool these flames (as much of anger as
Desire) which*n9031
Octavo of 1653 reads `with' (probably an easily made confusion of common abbreviations wch and wt).
her disdain, and tempting malice
n9031
Had raised within me.
832FrederickYou would have ravished her!
833FerdinandI rather thought, she like a cunning lady
Would have consented to a madman, who
She might presume could not impeach her honour
By least detection. Monkeys, fools, and madmen
That cannot blab,†gg6053
talk indiscreetly, reveal or betray secrets (OED v1. 3)
or must not be believed,
gg6053
Receive strange favours.
834FrederickAnd on that presumption
You feigned your madness.
835FerdinandTrue.
836FrederickBut rather than to fail,
With your bawd doctor’s help you would ha’ forced her:
On your assurance of Charissa to me,
That your proceeding in your madness here
To exercise your violence.
837FerdinandSuppose so.
838FrederickThou art not worth my killing now.
Justice will mark thee for the hangman’s office;
Nor, were Charissa in thy gift, were she
In that, worth mine or any good acceptance;
And for your counsel had— [Shouting towards upstage doors] Within there! Madam!
839FerdinandFrederick—
840FrederickThe lady of the house! where are you?
Enter STRANGELOVE, GABRIEL [and] DOCTOR.*n9480
Octavo of 1653 places this stage direction after the end of Frederick's speech (No. 837).
n9480
Will you be pleased to hear a secret, Madam,
Strangely discovered?
841Strangelove [To FREDERICK] I do not slight your act in the discovery,
[To FERDINAND] But your imposture, sir, and beastly practice
Was before whispered to me by your doctor
To save his epididymis.†gg5839
part of the testicles
gg5839
842DoctorO, your pardon!
843[Ferdinand]*n9035
Octavo of 1653 reads `Fred.': see [CB 4.3.line2230]. See also: [CB 4.3.line2066] with [NOTE n8975]; and [CB 4.1.line 1766] with [NOTE n9349].
I am disgraced, undone.†gg1946
ruined, destroyed
n9035
gg1946
844Strangelove’Tis in my power
To make you the perpetual shame of Court
And will assuredly do’t, if you comply not
With me to make this injured gentleman’s fortune*n9807
Strangelove has just threatened to make Ferdinand the shame of Court. Echoing her own word, she now commands him to help her to make Frederick's fortune in Charissa -- that is, to secure the success of Frederick's suit for Charissa's hand.
n9807
In his beloved Charissa.
845FerdinandMadam, most readily: I have offered it.
846[Strangelove]*n10131
Octavo of 1653 assigns this speech ([CB 4.3.speech843]) to Swain-wit, but he does not appear in this scene, which is almost finished. In the next scene, however, the initial stage direction begins with his name, and the opening speech is his, so the mistake, whether by scribe or by compositor, appears to be understandable. See [CB 4.3.line2336] and [CB 5.1.2341].
I have forecast†gg3266
prearranged
the way and means†gg6055
method and resources (OED 1a)
already,
n10131
gg3266
gg6055
Which we must prosecute with art and speed.
847FerdinandI’ll be directed by you.
848FrederickNoblest Lady.[STRANGELOVE, GABRIEL, DOCTOR, FREDERICK
and FERDINAND all exit.]*n9444
Octavo of 1653 reads `Exeunt omnes.'
and FERDINAND all exit.]*
n9444
Edited by Marion O'Connor