ACT FOUR*
n7026
By Act 4, the double time scheme (see Introduction) is taking effect. For Dionysia and Rafe, Act 4 starts on the second day since Millicent's wedding: for Quicksands and Millicent, it starts on the thirty-first day since the wedding. The other characters are variously caught up in the inconsistencies that this produces.
4.1 and 4.2 each introduce one of the major female characters of the play in disguise. In 4.1 it is Dionysia, dressed as a man in order to inveigle her way into Theophilus's house; in 4.2, it is Millicent, seen for the first time with her completely blackened face. 4.3 explores the consequences of those two disguises on Theophilus, in mourning for Millicent and deceived by Dionysia.
In terms of style, various sections of this play are a little removed from the usual expectations of city comedy, being closer instead to the sophisticated sentimental tragicomedy exemplified by, for instance, Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster. Within The English Moor, 4.3 is perhaps the most sustained example of this register, at odds with the sharper and more satirical comedy of the other scenes. In 4.3, beautiful young people explore states of grief and hopeless love, with copious onstage weeping; and Dionysia is caught in a dilemma between honour (which, she thinks, should make her kill those present) and the love at first sight which she feels for Theophilus. The solemn music of the Page's song contributes, too, to this notable difference in register. Parts of 4.4 also pick up this register of sentimental tragicomedy, as Millicent puts herself at the mercy of her lover's enemy.
By contrast with 4.3, 4.5 uses music to more energetic and uproarious effect, as Quicksands' entertainment for the gallants goes spectacularly wrong. Particularly striking is the way that the scene is articulated, proceeding through what might be called a medley of three distinct musical items, each advancing the plot, each outdoing the one before in energy and transgressiveness. In the first of the three musical items, the hired impersonators of moors dance 'an antic in which they use actions of mockery and derision' to Nathaniel and the other gallants. The second arises from the first: in immediate response, Nathaniel asks Quicksands' permission to dance a dance of his own, and does so, dancing so vilely as to render Quicksands and Testy helpless with laughter, and enabling him to make off with Catalina. There is no break in the music - "the music continuing" - for the entrance of the third musical act, Buzzard/Timsy singing and dancing with his rock and spindle. All three of these dances are, in different senses, deliberately ugly violations of decorum. All three figure weaknesses in Quicksands - his love of the exotic; his unsuitability for marriage; and his bastard-getting past. If Buzzard's repeated 'toodle loodle loo' is mimetic of making noises like music; and since it overlaps with the music which is playing when he comes in; it is not too much to say that there is a musical continuo for almost a hundred speeches through the climactic section of Act Four.
n7026
In terms of style, various sections of this play are a little removed from the usual expectations of city comedy, being closer instead to the sophisticated sentimental tragicomedy exemplified by, for instance, Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster. Within The English Moor, 4.3 is perhaps the most sustained example of this register, at odds with the sharper and more satirical comedy of the other scenes. In 4.3, beautiful young people explore states of grief and hopeless love, with copious onstage weeping; and Dionysia is caught in a dilemma between honour (which, she thinks, should make her kill those present) and the love at first sight which she feels for Theophilus. The solemn music of the Page's song contributes, too, to this notable difference in register. Parts of 4.4 also pick up this register of sentimental tragicomedy, as Millicent puts herself at the mercy of her lover's enemy.
By contrast with 4.3, 4.5 uses music to more energetic and uproarious effect, as Quicksands' entertainment for the gallants goes spectacularly wrong. Particularly striking is the way that the scene is articulated, proceeding through what might be called a medley of three distinct musical items, each advancing the plot, each outdoing the one before in energy and transgressiveness. In the first of the three musical items, the hired impersonators of moors dance 'an antic in which they use actions of mockery and derision' to Nathaniel and the other gallants. The second arises from the first: in immediate response, Nathaniel asks Quicksands' permission to dance a dance of his own, and does so, dancing so vilely as to render Quicksands and Testy helpless with laughter, and enabling him to make off with Catalina. There is no break in the music - "the music continuing" - for the entrance of the third musical act, Buzzard/Timsy singing and dancing with his rock and spindle. All three of these dances are, in different senses, deliberately ugly violations of decorum. All three figure weaknesses in Quicksands - his love of the exotic; his unsuitability for marriage; and his bastard-getting past. If Buzzard's repeated 'toodle loodle loo' is mimetic of making noises like music; and since it overlaps with the music which is playing when he comes in; it is not too much to say that there is a musical continuo for almost a hundred speeches through the climactic section of Act Four.
4.1
592DionysiaHow does my habit and my arms become me?
593RafeToo well to be a woman, manly mistress.
594DionysiaWhere’s the pistol you provided for me?
[RAFE hands DIONYSIA a large pistol*n3678
This pistol is obviously large and dangerous-looking. Dionysia takes it, and has difficulty concealing it about her, while Rafe makes crude phallic jokes about it. A director must decide how to handle this comic exchange without making Dionysia a mere figure of farce.
.]
n3678
595RafeHere, mistress, and a good one.
596Dionysia'Tis too long.
597RafeNo lady would wish a shorter. If it were,
’Twould bear no charge, or carry nothing home*n3421
The reference is to a pistol: it would not hold enough gunpowder to fire a shot, or else the shot it fired would not damage its target. Rafe, however, is thinking in terms not of a pistol but of a penis.
.
n3421
598DionysiaI'll try what I can do. Thou thinkst me valiant.
I’m sure I have often felt it.
599RafeAll the viragoes†gg2140
'a man-like, vigorous, and heroic woman; a female warrior; an amazon' (OED n. 2)
that are found in story,
gg2140
Penthesilea*n9223
Queen of the Amazons, slain by Achilles at the siege of Troy. Rafe's praise of Dionysia here seems to be a displaced echo of Jonson's Epicoene, where Morose calls Epicoene 'a PENTHESILEA, a SEMIRAMIS' (3.4.56-7). On Epicoene as an influence elsewhere in this play, see the Introduction, and also Steen, Introduction 7-8.
and Semiramis*n11651
Legendary Assyrian queen whose supposed lust, power-hungriness and refusal to conform to decorous female behaviour are invoked in a number of early modern texts: see, for instance, John Mason’s The Turk (King’s Revels, 1607-8; published London, 1610), in which Mulleasses advises Timoclea, ‘Discard the timorous pity of thy sex: / Be a Semiramis: let thy husband’s death / Give thy hopes life’ (sig. H1r). Richard Rainolde includes a concise history of Semiramis in his Foundation of Rhetoric (London, 1563), in which he describes how on the death of her husband she ‘kept her son from the government, and most of all she feared that they would not obey a woman; forthwith she feigned herself to be the son of Ninus, and because she would not be known to be a woman, this queen invented a new kind of tire, the which all the Babylonians that were men used by her commandment. By this strange disguised tire and apparel she, not known to be a woman, ruled as a man for the space of two and forty years: she did marvellous acts, for she enlarged the mighty kingdom of Babylon, and builded the same city. Many other regions subdued, and valiantly overthrown, she entered India, to the which never prince came, saving Alexander the Great: she passed not only men in virtue, counsel, and valiant stomach, but also the famous counsellors of Assyria might not contend with her in majesty, policy, and royalness. For, at what time as they knew her a woman, they envied not her state, but marvelled at her wisdom, policy, and moderation of life. At the last, she desiring the unnatural lust and love of her son Ninus, was murthered of him’ (sigs. C4v-D1r). In Greene’s Penelope’s Web, the exiled queen Barmenissa mentions Semiramis as an example to be avoided when she tries to warn the concubine Olynda (sig. E1r).
,
n9223
n11651
Were no such handy strikers*n2515
Two meanings obtain: a) one who strikes blows (OED n, 2b); b) a perjorative term for a sexually active woman (OED n, 2d).
as yourself:
n2515
But they had another stroke*n3422
Another form of attack; specifically, for Rafe, having sex with him.
. Could you but find it,
n3422
Then you were excellent. I could teach it you.
600DionysiaI dare not understand thee yet*n3423
Dionysia creeps a little closer still to compromising herself with Rafe.
. Be sure
n3423
As you respect my honour, or your life,
That you continue constant to my trust,
And so thou canst not know how much I'll love thee.
601RafeThere is a hope as good, now, as a promise.
602DionysiaHere at this inn abide, and wait my coming.
Be careful of my geldings*n3424
] gueldings MS; guildings O.
'Guildings' are gold coins, so that the O reading would make sense by itself (and this line is listed in the OED under 'guilding'). However, in context 'guildings' is clearly an error for MS 'gueldings', especially since these geldings (castrated horses) are referred to again in the play at [EM 5.1.speech944].
. Be not seen
n3424
Abroad for fear my brother may surprise you.
There’s money for you; and ere that be spent
’Tis like I shall return.[DIONYSIA] exits.
Mars*n3426
Two meanings of Mars are at play here: a) the planet, picking up on the astrological imagery of the previous line; b) the god of war, appropriate to Dionysia's violent purpose.
arm thee all the day; and Venus*n3427
Again two meanings are at play here relating to Venus: a) the planet, picking up again on the astrological imagery; b) the goddess of love.
light
n3426
n3427
Thee home into these amorous arms at night.[RAFE] exits.
4.2
[Enter] QUICKSANDS [and] MILLICENT, her face black*n5247
] O; Quicksands. Millicent. like a black Moore. MS's stage direction offers a slightly different phrasing to describe Millicent's appearance.
.
n5247
That I conceive by thy concealed beauty,
Is now at hand, and shall shine forth again
In its admired glory. I am rapt
Above the sphere†gg2848
realm (referring to the Ptolemaic system in which the heavens were imagined as a series of concentric spheres)
of common joy and wonder
gg2848
605MillicentIn the mean time, though you take pleasure in’t,
606QuicksandsBut thine honour
Shall, in the vindication of thy name*n3429
That is: at the moment when your reputation is vindicated (by the revelation that you have been faithful to me throughout).
,
n3429
When envy and detraction are struck dumb,
Gain an eternal memory with virtue;
Shall hang their heads, and fall like leaves in autumn.
O, how I laugh to hear the cozened people,
As I pass on the streets, abuse themselves
By idle questions and false reports.
As thus: 'Good morrow, Master Quicksands! Pray
How fares your beauteous bedfellow?' Says another,
'I hear she’s not at home'. A third says no:
He saw her yesterday at the Stillyard*n3431
A tavern in what is now Upper Thames Street which specialized in imported food and wine. It is referred to in James Shirley's The Lady of Pleasure (1637) I1r, where Bomwell hopes that he and his friends will
n3431
whirl in coachesNumerous other references to the tavern and its delicacies are collected by Sugden (1925), which show that it was particularly noted for its Rhenish wine and for its sale of dried neat's tongues.
To the Dutch magazine of sauce, the Stillyard,
Where deal, and back-rag, and what strange wine else
They dare but give a name to in the reckoning,
Shall flow into our room, and drown Westphalias [i.e. hams],
Tongues, and anchovies, like some little town
Endangered by a sluice.
With such a gallant, sousing their dried tongues*n3432
Amusingly ambiguous: it could be the delicacy of a dried neat's tongue, for which the Stillyard was famous, or it could be the tongues of his wife and her lover, worn dry by excessive friction.
n3432
In Rhenish*n3433
] this edn; Rhemish O. 'Rhemish', from Rheims, is not otherwise attested as the name of a wine, whereas 'Rhenish', wine from the Rhine, is one of the major varieties of wine in Renaissance London, and particularly associated with the Stillyard (see the note above).
, deal*n3434
'Some unidentified kind of wine, supposed to be of Rhenish origin' (OED deal n.4). Associated with the Stillyard: see the note above.
, and back-rag*n3435
Another Rhenish wine, whose name is an Anglicised version of Bacharach, the town from which it came (OED bacharach n., and see note above).
. Then a fourth
n3433
n3434
n3435
Says he knows all her haunts and meetings
At Bridgefoot Bear, the Tuns, the Cats, the Squirrels*n3436
Four well-established taverns, three of them certainly and one probably in Southwark. All four are referred to elsewhere in Renaissance city comedy as places of ill repute. The Bear at the Bridgefoot stood at the southern end of London Bridge; 'the Tuns' refers to one of several London taverns which bore the name 'The Three Tuns', one of which, at least, was in Southwark; 'the Cats' is a nickname of the Catharine Wheel, 'an ancient tavern in Southwark, between Union St and Mint St.'; and the Three Squirrels was in Southwark. For fuller descriptions of all four places, see Sugden (1925).
;
n3436
Where, when, and in what company to find her,
But that he scorns to do poor me the favour,
While a fifth youth with counterfeit show of pity,
Meets, and bewails my case, and says he knows
A Lord that must be nameless keeps my wife
In an enchanted castle two miles west*n3438
Evidently, a topical allusion, but one that remains unexplained.
n3438
Upon the riverside: but all conclude—
607MillicentThat you are a monstrous cuckold, and deserve it.
608QuicksandsKnowing my safety*n3440
The fact that I am safe (from being a cuckold).
, then, and their foul errors,
n3440
Have I not cause to laugh? Yes, in abundance.
Now note my plot, the height of my invention.
I have already given out to some
That I have certain knowledge you are dead,
And have had private burial in the country,
At which my shame, not grief, forbade my presence:
Yet some way to make known unto the world*n3441
This is still, in effect, free indirect speech: Quicksands is reporting the lies he has spread about himself, acccording to which, he will hold a memorial dinner for his dead wife, because it's the socially dutiful thing to do.
n3441
A husband's duty, I resolve to make
A certain kind of feast, which shall advance
My joy above the reach of spite or chance.
609MillicentMay I partake, sir, of your rich conceit?
610QuicksandsTomorrow night expires your limited month
Of vowed virginity. It shall be such a night
In which I mean thy beauty shall break forth
And dazzle with amazement even to death
Those my malicious enemies, that rejoiced
In thy supposed escape and my vexation.
I will invite 'em all to such a feast
As shall fetch blushes from the boldest guest;
I have the first course ready—
611Millicent Aside And if I
Fail in the second, blame my housewifery*n3443
'I intend to use my womanly wiles to provide an unexpected second course to the banquet'. Unusually, marked explicitly as an aside in O.
.
n3443
[There is a knock at the door*n5248
] this edn; A side, one knocks. O; Knock. MS. I interpret the first part of O's SD as pertaining to Millicent's preceding speech (which the context confirms must indeed be an aside).
.]
n5248
612QuicksandsAway, somebody comes; I guess of them
That have jeered me, whom I must jeer again.
MILLICENT exits. Enter NATHANIEL, VINCENT, [and] EDMUND.
Gallants, y’are welcome. I was sending for ye.
613NathanielTo give us that we come for?
614QuicksandsWhat may that be?
616QuicksandsOf yours, my masters?
617EdmundYes, you have in mortgage
618VincentAnd my annuity of a hundred marks*n3445
An annuity is a guaranteed annual payment from a particular person. It could result from a benefaction, or from having sold your land to a purchaser who offers payment partly in ready money and partly in a promise of future annual income.
Vincent, the recipient of such an annuity, has foolishly borrowed money from Quicksands using the annuity itself as his security for the loan. He has not yet been able to repay the money, and in the interim Quicksands is enjoying the profits of the annuity.
One mark is 13s 4d, so that a hundred marks is £66 13s 4d, a significant amount of money. For comparison, Brome's own annual income from his first Salisbury Court contract should have been in the region of £54, in excess of that enjoyed by schoolmasters or curates (Bentley, 1971, 107).
.
n3445
619NathanielAnd jewels, watches, plate, and clothes of mine,
Pawned for four hundred pound. Will you restore all?
620QuicksandsYou know all these were forfeited long since,
Ha’you brought my moneys, and my interest?
621NathanielNo surely. But we’ll come as roundly to you
As moneyless gentlemen can. You know
Good offices*n3447
Two meanings of "offices" are in play here: a) positions at court; b) services. The gallants claim they have an 'office' to sell, which seems at first to be a lucrative position connected with the court (and such offices would sometimes change hands for money); but in fact they are merely offering to do Quicksands a service.
are ready money, sir.
n3447
622QuicksandsBut have you offices to sell, good sirs?
623NathanielWe mean to do you offices worth your money.
624QuicksandsAs how, I pray you?
625NathanielMarry†gg177
a common intensifier or expletive, a contraction of 'By Mary', 'By Mary of God'
, sir, as thus;
gg177
We’ll help you to a man that has a friend—
626VincentThat knows a party†gg1194
an individual concerned in a proceeding (sometimes legal)
, that can go to the house—
gg1194
627EdmundWhere a gentleman dwelt, that knew a scholar—
628NathanielThat was exceeding well acquainted with a traveller—
629VincentThat made report of a great magician beyond the seas—
630EdmundThat might ha’ been as likely as any man in all the world—
631NathanielTo have helped you to your wife again!
[NATHANIEL, EDMUND, and VINCENT all burst out laughing*n5249
] this edn. Neither MS or O mark a SD here, but the action is clearly implied and important to the rhythm of the scene.
.]
n5249
But to be serious, gentlemen, I am satisfied
With me and all the world.
633NathanielWhat, is she dead?
634QuicksandsDead, dead. And therefore as men use to mourn
For kind and loving wives, and call their friends,
Their choicest friends, unto a solemn banquet
Served out with sighs and sadness, while the widowers
To wring out of their fingers' ends and noses*n3449
Quicksands imagines the widowers weeping with their hands constantly to their faces, and suggests the weeping might be insincere.
,
n3449
To avoid the scandal of hypocrisy,
Because ’tis plain she loved me not, invite
You and your like that loved her and not me
To see me in the pride of my rejoicings.
You shall find entertainment worth your company,
And that let me entreat tomorrow night.
635NathanielYou shall ha’ mine.
636VincentTomorrow night, say you?
637QuicksandsYes, gallants: fail not, as you wish to view
Your mortgages and pawns again. Adieu.[QUICKSANDS] exits.
638NathanielWe came to jeer the jew*n3372
One of three examples (spread between O and MS) which refer to Quicksands as a 'Jew', a term seemingly used as a metaphorical description encapsulating his moneylending and general hatedness (OED n, 2). In no respect apart from these three references does Quicksands appear to be 'really' Jewish. For the wider picture of representations of Jewishness in England at this date see Shapiro (1996); for further discussion of Quicksands and Jewishness, see Steggle (2004).
, and he jeers us.
n3372
639VincentHow glad the rascal is for his wife's death.
640NathanielAn honest man could not have had such luck.
641EdmundHe has some further end in’t, could we guess it,
Than a mere merriment for his dead wife's riddance.
642VincentPerhaps he has got a new wife, and intends
To make a funeral and a marriage feast*n6766
An obviously indecent thing to do. The audience may have been reminded of Hamlet, 1.2.180-1, where Hamlet complains of his mother's hasty remarriage that 'the funeral baked meats / Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables'.
n6766
643EdmundHe’ll be hanged rather than marry again.
’Twould be a rare addition to his mirth
For us to bring our antic*n3450
An entertainment (namely Buzzard, disguised as Timsy the changeling).
in betwixt’em
n3450
Of his changeling bastard.
646NathanielWhere’s the Buzzard*n5270
As noted previously, Buzzard's name is appropriate to him because he is a 'buzzard', a gullible fool: something further emphasized by Nathaniel's use of the definite article in referring to him here.
?
n5270
647VincentWe left him with his foster father*n3451
This is because Arnold will be playing John Hulverhead, Timsy's foster father, in the entertainment.
, Arnold,
n3451
Busy at rehearsal practising their parts.
648EdmundThey shall be perfect by tomorrow night.
649NathanielIf not unto our profit, our delight
n3452
Nathaniel subverts the usual Renaissance formula in which literature or drama promises both profit and delight, that is, moral improvement and entertainment. This entertainment, he forecasts, will not bring them any profit, quite the reverse since it will completely antagonize the man to whom they owe money: on the other hand, it will be very entertaining to them.
The exchange leading up to this line differs considerably in O and MS: the two passages are presented in parallel in the Textual Introduction to this edition, and the two versions were also workshopped: both octavo and MS . The workshopping was originally undertaken to investigate the thesis that the O version might be more theatrically slick than the manuscript version, but in fact both versions were found to be highly stageable, full of potential cues for movement and for inventive stage groupings. In the clipes the actors make short work of the task of conveying to the audience that the notional location of the scene had changed with Quicksands's exit, miming being faced with a slammed door. It was generally agreed that, in Nathaniel's first speech, the train of thought is a little clearer in the O version than in MS. The reassigment of lines in the second half of the passage seemed to have remarkably little effect on its overall tone, since the gallants work so much as a team (described by one of the actors off-camera as seeming like the "three stooges"). In the workshopping the actors naturally fell into having the three characters making a good deal of physical contact with one another - leaning on each other, slapping each other on the back, as part of the easy rapport that sees them finishing each other's sentences. This, one might observe, is in marked contrast to their enemy, the solitary, and physically isolated, Quicksands.
.All exit.
n3452
The exchange leading up to this line differs considerably in O and MS: the two passages are presented in parallel in the Textual Introduction to this edition, and the two versions were also workshopped: both octavo
and MS . The workshopping was originally undertaken to investigate the thesis that the O version might be more theatrically slick than the manuscript version, but in fact both versions were found to be highly stageable, full of potential cues for movement and for inventive stage groupings. In the clipes the actors make short work of the task of conveying to the audience that the notional location of the scene had changed with Quicksands's exit, miming being faced with a slammed door. It was generally agreed that, in Nathaniel's first speech, the train of thought is a little clearer in the O version than in MS. The reassigment of lines in the second half of the passage seemed to have remarkably little effect on its overall tone, since the gallants work so much as a team (described by one of the actors off-camera as seeming like the "three stooges"). In the workshopping the actors naturally fell into having the three characters making a good deal of physical contact with one another - leaning on each other, slapping each other on the back, as part of the easy rapport that sees them finishing each other's sentences. This, one might observe, is in marked contrast to their enemy, the solitary, and physically isolated, Quicksands.4.3
[Enter] THEOPHILUS, LUCY [and PAGE].
650LucyBrother, be comforted.
651TheophilusLet not the name
Or empty sound of comfort mix with th’air
That must invade these ears. They are not capable*n3456
That is because his ears are not able to receive the sound of comfort.
,
n3456
Or, if they be, they dare not, for themselves,
Into my heart, that speak not*n3458
That is: 'that speaks not'. 'Speak' is a subjunctive form, grammatically correct but now obsolete.
grief or sorrow.
n3458
652LucyBe grieved then, I'll grieve with you. For each sigh
You waste for Millicent's untimely death
653TheophilusThat’s most unsuitable; y’are no company
For me to grieve with if you grieve for me;
Take the same cause with me*n3460
Weep, if you will weep, not for my misery but for Millicent's death.
; you are no friend
n3460
Or sister else of mine. It is enough
To set the world a-weeping!
654LucySo it is;
All but the stony part of’t.
655TheophilusNow you are right. Her husband’s of that part,
He cannot weep by nature. But I'll find
A way by art in chemistry*n3461
At this date, 'chemistry' has a meaning closer to modern 'alchemy' than modern 'chemistry'. Theophilus is making a vague, rather than a specific, threat that he will cause grief of some sort to Quicksands.
to melt him,
n3461
At least extract some drops. But do you weep
Indeed for Millicent? What, all these tears*n3463
Lucy is in fact weeping as a result of thinking of her secret beloved, Arthur. This detail is clearer in the MS, which makes the exchange more pointed, extending it by two more speeches, but is also implicit here. There are several performance options to convey to the audience the real reason for her weeping, of which the simplest and least subtle would be to have Lucy, while Theophilus's back is turned, look surreptitiously at a keepsake or letter from her beloved.
?
n3463
656LucyAll for your love.
657TheophilusShe is my love indeed; and was my wife.
But for the empty name of marriage only.
658Lucy*n3462
] MS; no change of speaker in O. The EEBO copy of O also has this obvious correction, made in what appears to be seventeenth-century handwriting.
But now she’s yours for ever. You enjoy her
n3462
In her fair blessed memory; in her goodness,
And all that has prepared her way for glory.
659TheophilusLet me embrace thee, sister. How I reverence
Any fair honour that is done to her!
Now thou shalt weep no more. Thou hast given me comfort
In showing me how she's mine. And tears indeed
Are all too weak a sacrifice for her,
But such as the heart weeps*n5271
Renaissance theories of weeping held that tears were generally a sign of sorrow, but not of the most profound and awful of distresses: see Lange (1996). For the idea that a heart could weep, cf. Wint., 5.2.87-92: 'She did with an Alas! I would fain say, bleed tears, for I am sure my heart wept blood.'
.
n5271
660Lucy [to Theophilus] Sit down, brother.
[to the Page] Sing, boy, the mournful song I bade you practise.
Song*n3464
] song lyrics not in O; supplied from MS. Songs were frequently omitted from printed versions of early modern plays, or else printed separately at the end: examples elsewhere in the Brome canon include QC [NOTE n3252], 'Here a new song'. It is not surprising, then, to find that O has omitted the lyrics of the song, even though they are overtly referred to in the succeeding dialogue and even though (as preserved in MS) they are so specifically pertinent to Theophilus's situation. As Steen concludes, the song was probably written specifically for this situation in the play.
Furthermore, there survives a variant text of the lyric accompanied by a musical setting. The setting is preserved in New York Public Library MS Drexel 4257, a manuscript which contains a large number of songs associated with early modern plays including Brome's own The Northern Lass. See Cutts (1986). This setting ascribes the lyric to "Rich. Broome" - further evidence that the text was written specially for the play - and contains numerous textual variants detailed in succeeding notes here, although none of them could be called improvements on the text as preserved in MS. As for the setting, Drexel 4257 (henceforth abbreviated simply to Drexel) ascribes it to John Withy (c.1600-1685). Withy is a somewhat shadowy figure. First recorded as a chorister at Worcester Cathedral in 1619, he went on to become a noted performer on the lyra viol, praised by John Playford and Anthony a Wood, who also observed that he was 'A Roman Catholic and sometime a teacher of music in the city of Worcester - father of Francis Withy of Oxon'. A number of part-books link Withy and his family to the musical circles of his contemporary Thomas Tomkins, and in particular to small-group music performance in Oxford and Worcester (Cutts, 1986; Irving, 1984; Bennett, 1987; Boden, 2005). Furthermore, various other musical compositions by Withy survive, all of them exclusively instrumental suites. One of them is 'A Mask by John Withy', scored for two instruments, which survives in a 1630s music manuscript now at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA (Charteris, 1978). This piece is adjacent, in the manuscript, to another duet identified as 'Mask Inner Temple'. Nothing, however, other than the 'mask' duet and the song under discussion, is known to link Withy to the world of the professional theatre, and Cutts speculates that some 'special request' or personal contact lies behind it. This is attractive, but remains a speculation given that so little is known about Withy's actual career.
The compiler of the Drexel manuscript, John Gamble, was apprentice to the theatrical musician Ambrose Beeland, and a close friend of Thomas Jordan, Brome's colleague in Queen Henrietta's Men. (Cutts, 1986; Bentley, 1941-68, 2.362-3). Indeed, Jordan's handwriting has been identified in parts of the Drexel manuscript, suggesting that he helped Gamble compile it (Hulse, 1996). These facts tend to imply that the setting Gamble records is probably indeed the one used in the play on its first performance. For a facsimile of the manuscript, see Cutts (1986); for a transcription, see [IMAGE EM_4_3], and for a MIDI transcription see http://purl.org/NET/msteggle/lovedeit6.MID).
.
n3464
Furthermore, there survives a variant text of the lyric accompanied by a musical setting. The setting is preserved in New York Public Library MS Drexel 4257, a manuscript which contains a large number of songs associated with early modern plays including Brome's own The Northern Lass. See Cutts (1986). This setting ascribes the lyric to "Rich. Broome" - further evidence that the text was written specially for the play - and contains numerous textual variants detailed in succeeding notes here, although none of them could be called improvements on the text as preserved in MS. As for the setting, Drexel 4257 (henceforth abbreviated simply to Drexel) ascribes it to John Withy (c.1600-1685). Withy is a somewhat shadowy figure. First recorded as a chorister at Worcester Cathedral in 1619, he went on to become a noted performer on the lyra viol, praised by John Playford and Anthony a Wood, who also observed that he was 'A Roman Catholic and sometime a teacher of music in the city of Worcester - father of Francis Withy of Oxon'. A number of part-books link Withy and his family to the musical circles of his contemporary Thomas Tomkins, and in particular to small-group music performance in Oxford and Worcester (Cutts, 1986; Irving, 1984; Bennett, 1987; Boden, 2005). Furthermore, various other musical compositions by Withy survive, all of them exclusively instrumental suites. One of them is 'A Mask by John Withy', scored for two instruments, which survives in a 1630s music manuscript now at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA (Charteris, 1978). This piece is adjacent, in the manuscript, to another duet identified as 'Mask Inner Temple'. Nothing, however, other than the 'mask' duet and the song under discussion, is known to link Withy to the world of the professional theatre, and Cutts speculates that some 'special request' or personal contact lies behind it. This is attractive, but remains a speculation given that so little is known about Withy's actual career.
The compiler of the Drexel manuscript, John Gamble, was apprentice to the theatrical musician Ambrose Beeland, and a close friend of Thomas Jordan, Brome's colleague in Queen Henrietta's Men. (Cutts, 1986; Bentley, 1941-68, 2.362-3). Indeed, Jordan's handwriting has been identified in parts of the Drexel manuscript, suggesting that he helped Gamble compile it (Hulse, 1996). These facts tend to imply that the setting Gamble records is probably indeed the one used in the play on its first performance. For a facsimile of the manuscript, see Cutts (1986); for a transcription, see [IMAGE EM_4_3], and for a MIDI transcription see http://purl.org/NET/msteggle/lovedeit6.MID).
661PageLove, where is now thy deity,
When Fortune alters thy decree
In making of*n5318
] MS; by force to make Drexel.
another blessed
n5318
With her thou plantedst in my breast?
And Fortune, where is thy despite†gg543
scorn, contempt
gg543
That gav'st another my delight,
When Death has*n5319
] MS; hath Drexel.
ta'en from him and thee
n5319
The precious prize*n5320
] MS; price Drexel.
, as well as me?
n5320
Of Love I blame the inconstancy;
Of Fortune curse the*n5321
] MS; thy Drexel.
cruelty;
n5321
Death, my revenger*n5322
] MS; and my reveng Drexel.
, yet shall scape
n5322
(Though he has done*n5323
] MS; was made Drexel.
the greatest rape)
n5323
For he is kindest of the three:
In taking*n5324
] MS; haveing tane Drexel.
her, he calls for me.
n5324
His kindness carries yet a*n5325
] MS; still yet leaves this Drexel.
blot,
n5325
For though*n5326
] MS; Although Drexel.
he calls he takes me not.
n5326
662TheophilusCall you this mournful? 'Tis a wanton air*n3466
Why does Theophilus react so angrily to the song? Ingram (1958), 233, speculates that the song might have been set to a bawdy tune 'for incongruous comic effect'; but Withy's tune is sad, and Steen correctly observes that the comic effect lies in the mismatch between the sad song and Theophilus's hasty reaction.
.
n3466
Go, y’are a naughty child indeed, I'll whip you
If you give voice unto such notes.PAGE exits*n5272
] MS; no SD in O.
.
n5272
663LucyI know not, brother, how you like the air,
But in my mind the words are sad. Pray read’em.
[THEOPHILUS] reads [the words]*n5273
] he reades MS; no SD in O. Presumably Lucy has the lyrics on a sheet of paper. The effect of this reading is to turn him back from anger to sadness, as he sees the personal relevance of the words. Like Buzzard in the tavern scene, Theophilus here undergoes a number of rapid transitions in mood which pose a virtuoso challenge for the comic actor.
.
n5273
664TheophilusThey are sad indeed.
How now, my boy, dost weep*n3468
Do you weep?
?
n3468
I am not angry now.
665PageI do not weep,
A handsome youth, whose sorrow works in me:
666TheophilusDost thou not know him?
667PageNo, but I pity him.
668TheophilusO, good boy, that canst weep for a stranger's misery!
The sweetness of thy dear compassion
Even melts me too. What does he say he is?
669Page'Tis that, sir, that will grieve you when you hear it.
He is a poor kinsman to the gentlewoman
Lately deceased that you so loved, and mourn for.
670TheophilusAnd dost thou let him stay without so long?
Merciless villain! Run and fetch him quickly.[PAGE exits.]
671LucyO brother—
672TheophilusSister, can I be too zealous
In such a cause as this? For hark you, sister—
Enter PAGE and DIONYSIA*n5275
] MS; Enter Dionisia O. The Page must re-enter, in order to be on stage to speak his line: hence O's SD is inadequate.
.
n5275
673Dionysia [Aside] There was no way like this to get within†gg2858
inside the defence of (a metaphor from fencing: OED adv. 8b)
’em.
gg2858
Now, courage, keep true touch*n3469
Maintain your consistent quality, like a sample of precious metal which passes the test of a touchstone (OED touch n, 5c).
with me. I'll vex
n3469
Your cunning and unnatural purpose, brother,
If I do nothing else.
674PageSir, here’s the youth.
675TheophilusA lovely one he is, and wondrous like her.
O, let me run and clasp him; hang about him,
And yoke him to me with a thousand kisses!
[THEOPHILUS embraces DIONYSIA.]
I shall be troublesome and heavy to thee,
With the pleased weight of my incessant love,
Youth of a happy kindred*n3470
Of a good family (by being a relative of Millicent).
, which foreruns
n3470
A happy fortune ever. Pray thee, sister,
Is he not very like her?
676Lucy [Aside] If I durst
I would now say, this were the better beauty,
For it resembles Arthur's.
678LucyHers was a good one once, and this is now.
679TheophilusWhy sister, you were wont to take delight
In any comfort that belonged to me;
And help to carry my joys sweetly: now
You keep no constant course with me.
680Dionysia [Aside] This man
Melts me*n3472
Against her will, Dionysia is falling in love with Theophilus. The comedy of this scene lies in the registration of this process on Dionysia's face, while Theophilus obliviously administers manly hugs to her.
— [Aloud] Alas, sir, I am a poor boy.
n3472
681TheophilusWhat, and allied to her? Impossible!
Where'er thou livest, her name's a fortune to thee.
Her memory amongst good men sets thee up;
It is a word that commands all in this house.
682Dionysia [Aside] This snare was not well laid. I fear myself*n3471
'My deception was not well thought out. I am in danger of falling in love myself'.
.
n3471
683TheophilusLive my companion; my especial sweet one,
My brother and my bedfellow*n3473
Although it was not exactly routine, male friends could share a bed without, necessarily, sexual intent in this period: but, again, the comedy lies in the effect of this idea upon Dionysia.
thou shalt be.
n3473
684Dionysia [Aside] By lakin†gg2859
'By our Ladykin', i.e. the Virgin Mary (a mild oath)
but I must not, though I find
gg2859
But weak matter†gs400
grounds, reason, cause (OED n1. 11)
against it. This my courage*n3474
So much for my courage.
!
gs400
n3474
685TheophilusShe took from earth*n3475
Since she has been taken from the earth...
, how kind is Heaven, how good
n3475
To send me yet a joy so near in blood!
Good noble youth, if there be any more
Though afar off; deal freely; let me know it,
Give me their sad names; I'll seek’em out,
And like a good great man, in memory humble
Ne'er cease until I plant ’em all in fortunes,
And see ’em grow about me.
686DionysiaI hear of none, myself excepted, sir.
687TheophilusThou shalt have all my care then, all my love.
[THEOPHILUS turns to LUCY.]*n3679
This reconstructed SD is necessary to make sense of Dionysia's next speech, in which she contemplates shooting Lucy ('the mark my malice chiefly aims at') but now worries that she might also hit Theophilus. For what is implied about Dionysia's pistol, see [NOTE n3678].
n3679
689Theophilus [to Lucy] Yet note him, sister.
But then, he stands so near, I wound him too.
I feel that must not be. Art must be shown here.
691Theophilus [to LUCY] Come, you shall kiss him for me, and bid him welcome.
692LucyYou are most welcome, sir, and were her name
To which you are allied, a stranger here,
Yet, sir, believe me, you in those fair eyes
Bring your own welcome with you.
[LUCY tries to kiss DIONYSIA. DIONYSIA turns her face away.]
693Dionysia [Aside] Never came malice ’mong so sweet a people.
It knows not how to look, nor I, on them*n3681
Malice doesn't know how to look on them, and neither do I.
.
n3681
695TheophilusThat’s well said sister, but he will and shall
Be bolder with us*n5491
This line suggests (but does not quite require) stage business in which Theophilus seizes and firmly kisses the disguised Dionysia.
, ere we part.
n5491
696Dionysia [Aside] I shall, too much, I fear.
697TheophilusCome, gentle blessing,
Let not a misery be thought on here,
If ever any were so rude to touch thee:
Between us we’ll divide the comfort of thee.All exit.
4.4
[Enter] MILLICENT, [her face black, and] PHILLIS.
698MillicentI have heard thy story often, and with pity
As often thought upon ’t, and that the father
Of my best-loved Theophilus, together with
His then friend Master Meanwell (who have since
Become each other's deathsman†gg3044
executioner; the person who causes someone's death
, as 'tis thought)
gg3044
By suits in law wrought the sad overthrow
Of thy poor father's fortune; by which means,
Poor gentleman, he was enforced to leave
His native country, to seek foreign means
To maintain life.
699PhillisOr rather to meet death,
For since his travel, which is now six years,
I never heard of him.
700MillicentMuch pitiful!
701PhillisSo is your story, mistress, unto me.
But let us dry our eyes; and know we must not
Work our delivery: yours is now at hand
If you set will and brain to’t. But my honour
(If a poor wench may speak so) is so cracked
Within the ring*n3682
Seventeenth-century gold coins were prone to 'clipping', when unscrupulous owners would shave off some of the gold from the edge of the coin. If this clipping infringed the rim stamped around the coin, the coin was no longer legal tender. (Cf. Hamlet, 2.2.420-4, where the phrase is used as a metaphor for a boy's breaking voice: 'Pray God your voice, like a piece of uncurrent gold, be not crack'd within the ring'). Phillis, though, compares her honour to a cracked coin, with an additional double entendre in which 'ring' suggests her hymen, broken by the loss of her virginity.
, as ’twill be hardly soldered*n3683
People sometimes tried to salvage damaged currency by repairing it with solder (OED soldered a.); but, as Phillis wryly notes, no such remedy is available for a lost virginity.
n3682
n3683
By any art. Fie on that wicked fellow,
That struck me into such a desperate hazard*n3684
That is: put me into such a dangerous place. A metaphor from a winning shot at real tennis: Cf. Henry V, 1.2.263: 'We will in France, by God's grace, play a set, / Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard'. But here, Phillis is also thinking of the double meaning of 'to strike' as 'to have sex with', as at [EM 2.3.speech373].
.
n3684
702MillicentHe will be here tonight, and all the crew,
And this must be the night of my delivery.
I am prevented else forever, wench.
703PhillisBe sure, among the guests, that you make choice
Of the most civil one to be your convoy,
And then let me alone to act your moor's part.
704MillicentPeace, he comes.
Enter QUICKSANDS.
705PhillisI'll to my shift†gg3164
an expedient, an ingenious device for effecting some purpose (OED n. III 3a)
then.PHILLIS exits.
gg3164
706QuicksandsWhere’s my hidden beauty,
That shall this night be glorious?
707MillicentI but wait the good hour
For my deliverance*n3685
Quicksands thinks she means the moment when Quicksands will throw off her disguise; the audience knows she is referring to her planned escape from the house.
out of this obscurity.
n3685
708Quicksands'Tis at hand.
So are my guests. See, some of ’em are entered.
Enter NATHANIEL [and] ARTHUR.
O my my blithe friend, Master Nathaniel, welcome,
And Master Arthur Meanwell, as I take it.
709NathanielYes, sir, a gentleman late possessed with sadness,
Whom I had much ado to draw along
To be partaker more of your mirth than cheer*n5492
This sounds like it ought to be a compliment - implying that Meanwell has been drawn by the good company rather than the mere food - but, addressed to a miser, it is a calculated insult to the likely quality of the food.
.
n5492
You say here shall be mirth.
[NATHANIEL notices MILLICENT. MILLICENT makes to leave.]
How now, what’s that?
Ha' you a black coney-berry*n3826
'Coney', literally rabbit, is also used as a derogatory term for a sexually available woman. A 'coney-berry', or rabbit-burrow, is, by extension, a slang expression suggesting a collection of available women, or a brothel: cf. OED coney-berry. A 'black coney-berry' is perhaps best parsed as a warren full of black coneys, that is, black, sexually available women.
in your house?
n3826
710QuicksandsStay, Catalina. Nay, she may be seen.
For know, sirs, I am mortified to beauty
Since my wife's death. I will not keep a face
Better than this under my roof, I ha’ sworn.
711ArthurYou were too rash, sir, in that oath, if I
May be allowed to speak.
712QuicksandsTis done and passed, sir.
And her two eyes the scutcheons†gg3119
ceremonial shields displayed at funerals
, would I were whipped now*n5493
That is: 'I am taken with that face. May I be whipped if what I say is not true.'
.
gg3119
n5493
714ArthurSuppose your friends should wish you to a match
Prosperous in wealth and honour.
715QuicksandsI'll hear of none, nor you if you speak so.
716ArthurSir, I ha’ done.
717Nathaniel [Aside] It is the handsomest rogue
I have e'er seen yet, of*n3830
with respect to
a deed of darkness*n3831
A set expression for any wicked act, and in particular, as here, for sexual intercourse. It is, of course, an especially appropriate phrase given Catalina's blackness.
;
n3830
n3831
But never came so deep in blackness*n3832
Again, a double meaning: Catalina's black skin is equated with sin.
yet.
n3832
718QuicksandsCome hither, Catalina. You shall see, sir,
And when she dances, how you shall admire her!
719ArthurWill you have dancing here tonight?
720QuicksandsYes! I have borrowed other moors of merchants
That trade in Barbary*n3833
An ill-defined geographical term principally referring to North Africa.
, whence I had mine own here,
n3833
And you shall see their way and skill in dancing.
721Nathaniel [Aside] He keeps this rye loaf*n3834
A loaf of black bread, made from rye: hence, metaphorically, his black maid, imagined as a consumable sexual product.
for his own white tooth*n5496
] MS; white white tooth O. O's repetition serves no obvious purpose, and makes the line extra-metrical: the confusion appears to be caused by the turnover lines in this passage.
n3834
n5496
With confidence none will cheat him of a bit.
I'll have a sliver, though I lose my whittle*n3835
The primary meaning is a bread-knife; but here by lewd double-entendre, Nathaniel's penis.
.
n3835
722QuicksandsHere, take this key. ’Twill lead thee to those ornaments
That decked thy mistress lately. Use her casket,
And with the sparklingest of her jewels shine;
Flame like a midnight beacon with that face,
And the keel mourning*n3836
The keel remains dull and black, like her face, while the flags catch fire and burn brightly, like her jewels.
. How I shall rejoice
n3836
At these preposterous splendours! Get thee glorious;
Be like a running firework in my house.
723Nathaniel [Aside] He sets me more afire at her. Well, old Stickbreech*n3882
] MS; stick breech O. Insulting, but the exact meaning is unclear. 'Breech' perhaps equals 'buttock' (OED n. 4a), so 'Stickbreech' could be contrasting the elderly Quicksands, with thin buttocks like sticks, against the plump-buttocked young Catalina.
,
n3882
If I do chance to clap†gs541
get hold of
your Barbary buttock*n3884
Here, a sexually available woman (OED n, 5).
gs541
n3884
In all her bravery†gg41
'finery, fine clothes' (OED 3b); showy attire (worn with an air of bravado)
, and get a snatch†gg3171
a hasty sexual encounter (OED n. 6b)
gg41
gg3171
In an odd corner, or the dark tonight
To mend your cheer*n3885
Sarcastic: the food may be awful (because Quicksands is providing it), but Nathaniel will be compensated by seducing Catalina.
, and you hereafter hear on’t,
n3885
Say there are as good stomachs as your own.
[Aside to MILLICENT] Hist†gg3747
'a sibilant exclamation used to ... call on people to listen' (OED); the predecessor of the modern interjection 'psst!'
, negro, hist.
gg3747
724Millicent [Aside to NATHANIEL] No see*n3887
] O; fee MS. O's reading is defensible, and is here given the benefit of the doubt, but in the light of frequent other corruptions it may well in fact be a corruption of MS 'fee', which Steen interprets as 'fie', a mild oath, pronounced in Catalina's accent.
, o no, I dare-a not-a*n3886
Millicent and Phillis, as Catalina, speak with a generic foreign accent, adding -a to the end of many words and turning affricate consonants ("j" and "sh") into their fricative equivalents ("z" and "s" respectively).
.
n3887
n3886
725Nathaniel [Aside to MILLICENT] Why, why—pish, pox— I love thee.
726Millicent [Aside to NATHANIEL] O no, de fine white Zentilmanna
Cannot-a love-a the black-a thing-a.
727Nathaniel [Aside to MILLICENT] Cadzooks†gg3224
a variant of 'gadzooks', a mild oath
, the best of all, wench.
gg3224
728Millicent [Aside to NATHANIEL] O take-a heed-a, my mastra see-a.
729Nathaniel [Aside to MILLICENT] When we are alone, then wilt thou...?
730Millicent [Aside to NATHANIEL] Then I shall speak-a more-a.[MILLICENT] exits*n9125
] Ext MS; no SD in O, but Millicent clearly does leave the stage here.
.
n9125
731Nathaniel [Aside] And I'll not lose the moor-a for more than I
Will speak-a.
732QuicksandsI muse the rest of my invited gallants
Come not away*n4301
Do not come along (see OED away adv, 1 for this now archaic usage of 'away').
.
n4301
Enter TESTY.
733NathanielZooks, the old angry justice.
734TestyHow comes it, sir, to pass, that such a news
Is spread about the town? Is my niece dead,
And you prepared to mirth, sir? Hah!
Is this the entertainment I must find
To welcome me to town?
735Quicksands (whispers)*n4371
] (whisper) MS; no SD in O. Quicksands, wrapped up in his plot, is overdoing things as usual.
She is not dead, sir. But take you no notice.
n4371
[Aloud] You shall have instantly an entertainment, that
Shall fill you all with wonder.Exit [QUICKSANDS].
736TestySure, he is mad.
Or do you understand his meaning, sirs?
Or how, or where, his wife died?
737NathanielI know nothing;
He’s guilty of her death; therefore I hope
He’ll hang himself anon before us all
To raise the mirth he speaks of.
Yet trust me, sir, there have been large constructions,
Betwixt her youthful beauty and his covetous age,
Was the unhappy means of her destruction;
Do suffer sharply in the world’s opinion,
While she, sweet virgin, has its general pity.
739TestyPray, what have you been to her? I ne'er found you
Appear a suitor to her.
740ArthurI ne'er saw her,
Nor ever should have sought her, sir; for she
Was only love to my sworn enemy,
On whom yet (were she living and in my gift)
Rather a thousand times I would bestow her
Than on that man that had, and could not know her.
741TestyI have done ill*n4370
Testy's conscience is pricked by Arthur's sharp criticisms. Presumably he and Arthur continue to converse apart during the subsequent dialogue between Quicksands and the gallants, since by [EM 4.4.speech754] below he is offering Arthur Millicent's hand in marriage.
; and wish I could redeem
n4370
This act with half my estate.
742Nathaniel [Aside] This devil's bird*n4303
'A name popularly given to various birds' (OED), including the stormy petrel. (Nathaniel is interested in birds; cf. his earlier comparison of Phillis to a 'wag-tail').
,
n4303
This moor runs more and more still in my mind.
Enter VINCENT and EDMUND.
O you are come? And ha’ you brought your scene*n4304
That is the act rehearsed by Buzzard and Arnold.
n4304
Of mirth along with you?
743VincentYes, and our actors
Are here at hand: but we perceive much business
Is practising within.
745VincentBut first there is to be some odd collation
Instead of supper.
746NathanielCheap enough, I warrant.
747EdmundA pretty little rogue, most richly decked
With pearls, chains and jewels. She is queen
Of the night's triumph†gg2329
public celebrations, pageants, processions
.
gg2329
748NathanielIf you chance to spy me
Take her aside, say nothing.
Some of her jewels perhaps.
750NathanielI'll draw a lot
For the best jewel she wears*n4306
He means the pleasure of sleeping with her. Nathaniel imagines himself taking part in a lottery in which this is the prize.
. But mum†gg1683
be silent
, my masters†gg3229
gentlemen (OED n. 20b)
.
n4306
gg1683
gg3229
Enter QUICKSANDS.
751QuicksandsEnter the house, pray, gentlemen: I am ready
Now with your entertainnment.[QUICKSANDS] exits.
752TestyWe’ll follow you.
753NathanielNow for six penny†gg2805
costing a penny
custards†gg3237
'A kind of open pie containing pieces of meat or fruit covered with a preparation of broth or milk, thickened with eggs, sweetened, and seasoned with spices' (OED).
, a pipkin†gg3238
a small pot
of baked
gg2805
gg3237
gg3238
Pears, three saucers of stewed prunes, a groat†gg75
coin valued at roughly fourpence (OED 2), which in today's currency would be worth about £1.43
's worth
gg75
Of strong ale, and two pennyworth of gingerbread.NATHANIEL, VINCENT, and EDMUND exit.*n5503
] Ext Nat. Vinc. Edm. MS; Ext. 3 O.
.
n5503
She is not dead) I'll tell you briefly, sir,
If all the law bodily and ghostly*n4368
Literally, 'bodily and spiritual', in which sense the phrase is very common in Renaissance English. Testy is using it metaphorically to indicate that he will invoke, both secular law, and the church court system, in his attempts to get Millicent back.
,
n4368
And all the conscience too*n4369
If, to get Millicent back, it is necessary to bribe someone to bring false witness in a court of law, Testy is happy to do that.
that I can purchase
n4369
With all the wealth I have, can take her from him,
I will recover her, and then bestow her,
If you refuse her, on your foe you speak of
(whose right she is indeed) rather than he
Shall hold her longer. Now mine eyes are opened.
Will you walk in?
755ArthurI pray, excuse me, sir.
I cannot fit myself to mirth.
756TestyYour pleasure.[TESTY] exits.
Enter MILLICENT, white-faced and in her own habit*n4372
] O; Ent. Millicent White, as at first MS.
.
n4372
757MillicentHave I with patience waited for this hour,
And does fear check me now? I’ll break through all,
And trust myself with yond mild gentleman.
He cannot but be noble.
758ArthurA goodly creature!
The room's illumined with her; yet her look
Sad, and cheek pale, as if a sorrow sucked it.
How came she in? What is she? I am fear-struck.
'Tis some unresting shadow. Or, if not,
The master being an enemy to beauty?
She modestly makes to†gg4526
advances towards
me.
gg4526
759MillicentNoble sir—
760ArthurSpeaks too.
761MillicentIf ever you durst own†gg3240
acknowledge
a goodness,
gg3240
Now crown it by an act of honour and mercy.
762ArthurSpeak quickly; lose no time then: say, what are you?
You look like one that should not be delayed.
763MillicentI am th’ unfortunate woman of this house,
On which the hell of jealousy abused
The hand of heaven, to fright the world withal.
764ArthurWere you the seeming moor was here?
765MillicentThe same;
And only to your secrecy and pity
I have ventured to appear myself again.
766ArthurWhat’s to be done? Pray speak, and 'tis performed.
767MillicentIn trust and manhood, sir, I would commit
A great charge to you, even my life and honour,
To free me from this den of misery.
768ArthurA blessed task! But when you are freed, lady?
769MillicentI would desire, sir, then to be conveyed—
770ArthurWhither? To whom? Speak quickly: why do you stoop*n4381
Evidently Millicent's posture changes here: to 'stoop' is to hang down the head. She is distressed because she is not sure she dares ask her lover's enemy to convey her to her lover.
?
n4381
771MillicentPray let that rest. I will relieve your trouble
When I am freed from hence, and use some other's.
772ArthurNay, that were cruelty. As you love goodness, tell me.
773MillicentWhy, dare you bear me, sir, to one you hate?
774ArthurWhat’s that, if you love? 'Tis your peace I wait on.
Were he the mortallest enemy flesh bred up,
To you I must be noble.
775MillicentYou profess—
776ArthurBy all that’s good and gracious, I will die
Ere I forsake you, and not set you safe
Within those walls you seek.
777MillicentThen, as we pass,
I'll tell you where they stand, sir.
778ArthurYou shall grace me.[MILLICENT and ARTHUR] exit.
4.5
[Enter] QUICKSANDS, TESTY, NATHANIEL,
VINCENT, [and] EDMUND.
VINCENT, [and] EDMUND.
779QuicksandsNow to our revels. Sit ye, sit ye, gallants,
Whilst, uncle, you shall see how I’ll requite
The masque they lent me on my wedding night.
'Twas but lent, gentlemen, your masque of horns,
And all the private jeers and public scorns
Y’have cast upon me since. Now you shall see
How I'll return them; and remarried be*n4383
Getting into the spirit of the masque he has laid on, Quicksands has lapsed into tetrameter rhyming couplets.
.
n4383
780VincentI hope he’ll marry his moor to anger us.
781NathanielI'll give her something with her*n4384
] O; I'll give him something with her MS. Nathaniel's 'something with her' refers, in either case, to his ambition to leave Catalina pregnant. The O reading makes sense in its own right, and is retained here, although it may well be a corruption rather than a revision of the slightly more idiomatic MS reading.
, if I catch her,
n4384
And’t be but in the coal-house*n4388
'I'll have sex with her, even if the only place I can manage it is in the coal-house' (a building or room used for the storage of coal). The moral and practical implications of sexual liaisons in coal-houses are illustrated by a passage from Thomas Heywood's Gunaikeion (1624), 459, where a man asks a prostitute to bring him into the darkest room in the house: 'At length she brought him into a close narrow room, with nothing but a loophole for light, and told him, Sir, unless you purpose to go into the coal-house, this is the darkest place in the house.' A coal-house, then, is proverbially dark, which feeds into the play's continuing blackness imagery, as well as serving the requirements of the plot: it is almost the only suitable place for Phillis to have sex with Nathaniel, since, for obvious reasons, she cannot let him see her naked.
.
n4388
Flourish. Enter INDUCTOR like a moor leading PHILLIS [black and] gorgeously decked with jewels*n5504
] Enter Inductor like a Moor leading Phillis gorgeously decked with jewels O; Ent: Actor like a Moor leading in Phillis, black, & bravely deckt MS.
.
n5504
782TestyAttend, gentlemen*n4389
] MS; That which we can all at once O. O's reading can be made to yield some sense - 'I will do the one thing we can do to hurt Quicksands, and I will do it immediately' - but it is clearly an inferior reading to MS's sly circumlocution for the sexual act.
.
n4389
783InductorThe Queen of Ethiop dreamt upon a night
Her black womb should bring forth a virgin white.
784EdmundBlack womb!*n4390
Evidently, Edmund finds the phrase amusing, but there is no obvious textual reason why.
n4390
785InductorShe told her king; he told thereof his peers,
Till this white dream filled their black heads with fears.
786NathanielAh, whoreson†gg3241
literally, 'son of a whore', but in practice a rather milder epithet of disdain, something like 'wretched' or 'bloody'
blockheads.
gg3241
787InductorBlack heads, I said. I'll come to you anon.
788TestyHe puts the blockheads on 'em*n4391
'He confers on them the title of blockheads.'
grossly†gg882
palpably; excessively
.
n4391
gg882
789QuicksandsBrave impudent rogue. He made the speeches last year
Before my Lord Marquess of Fleet Conduit*n4392
Fleet Conduit was a public water-fountain in Fleet Street, frequently used as a location for brief staged entertainments in the course of processional events around the City of London: see, for instance, Withington (1918), and for a discussion of one of the entertainments, Steggle (2006). Quicksands is describing an annual event, which must therefore be the Lord Mayor of London's annual procession, and this mock-honorific title, then, is a periphrasis for the Mayor. Brome also refers to the procession in CG: see [NOTE n469].
.
n4392
790InductorTill this white dream filled their black heads with fears*n5505
] MS; fear O. The point is that he is repeating his previous line.
,
n5505
For 'tis no better than a prodigy
To have white children in a black country.
So ’twas decreed that if the child proved white,
The queen cried out, and was delivered
Of child black as you see: yet wizards said
That if this damsel lived married to be
To a white man, she should be white as he.
791VincentThe moral is, if Quicksands marry her,
792InductorThe careful†gs88
concerned, anxious
queen, conclusion†gg3243
result
for to try†gg1932
test
,
gs88
gg3243
gg1932
The fairest nation*n4397
The idea that 'fair England' can transform black women into white ones is an imitation of Jonson's Masque of Blackness (perf. 1605), also referred to in this play at [EM 3.1.speech435].
man yet ever saw,
n4397
Being an Egyptian prophet.
793EdmundDraw me*n4395
Punning on the Inductor's use of 'draw', and on the phrase 'hanging, drawing, and quartering' (OED draw v, 4).
, and I'll hang thee.
n4395
794InductorNow I come to you, gentlemen.
[The INDUCTOR] looks in EDMUND's hand*n4396
Chiromancy, or palm-reading, was a flourishing pseudo-science in early modern England. See Camden (1947) for numerous references to the practice. In particular, it was associated with gypsies, themselves falsely believed to be Egyptian in origin: hence this 'Egyptian prophet' is a link between exotic Africa and England. Brome is looking back to the palm-reading gypsy 'patrico' of Jonson's Gypsies Metamorphosed; and forward to the gypsies of his own JC.
.
n4396
795Quicksands [To TESTY] Now mark my jeers.
796InductorYou must not have her. For I find by your hand
You have forfeited the mortgage of your land.
798VincentNow me.
[The INDUCTOR looks] in VINCENT's hand.
799InductorNor you. For here I plainly see
You have sold and spent your life's annuity.
800VincentThe devil take him made thee a soothsayer*n4398
Whoever he was who made you a soothsayer, I hope the devil gets hold of him.
.
n4398
801NathanielI find from whence your skill comes. [Aside] Yet take me
For thy little princess of darkness, and if
Let me be hung up with her for a new
Sign of 'The Labour in Vain'*n4413
Because washing a black man symbolized wasted effort. This was both proverbial, and also a pictorial emblem which persisted for centuries through European history, 'from Greek proverb to soap advert' (Massing, 1995, 180). Jean Michel Massing documents dozens of verbal and pictorial versions of the image, but particularly relevant for Brome might be the appearances of it in emblem books such as Alciato, online at http://www.mun.ca/alciato, or Geoffrey Whitney's Choice of Emblems (1586), 57. Steen notes that the black maid Zanthia in Fletcher, Field, and Massinger's The Knight of Malta is called 'my little labour in vain': Beaumont and Fletcher, Comedies and Tragedies (1647), 73.
But in particular, Nathaniel is thinking of a sign for an inn, and numerous seventeenth-century references attest to the existence of inns bearing the name (as some still do today). As he appears to be thinking of a specific tavern, perhaps the best candidate is one of that name which was in business for a period before 1656 and which was located on Old Fish Street Hill near St Paul's Cathedral. See Burn (1855), 98.
.
n4413
[The INDUCTOR looks] in NATHANIEL's hand.
802InductorNor you, sir, for
The only suit you wear smells of the chest
That holds in limbo lavender*n4414
Nathaniel has pawned all his other clothes, which are stored by Quicksands in a chest, in a limbo-like state, until Nathaniel is able to repay his debts. Lavender was used to protect stored clothes from damage by moths.
all your rest.
n4414
803NathanielWould his brains were in thy belly that keeps the key on't*n4415
Not clear: perhaps Nathaniel is wishing that Quicksands (the person who holds the key to the chest with the clothes in) might be eaten by the Inductor.
.
n4415
[The INDUCTOR looks] in QUICKSANDS's hand.
804InductorThis is the worthy man, whose wealth and wit,
To make a white one, must the black mark*n4416
Terminology from archery: black is the colour for the centre of an archery target, or 'mark', and if Quicksands hits the black mark, by marrying Catalina, she will turn white.
hit.
n4416
805QuicksandsYour jeers are answered, gallants. Now your dance.
Enter the rest of the MOORS. They dance an antic in which they use action of mockery and derision to the three gentlemen*n5506
] O; Enter 6. Blackamores. Daunce. MS. An 'antic' is a grotesque dance.
. The INDUCTOR and MOORS exit*n5507
] Ext Actor, & the rest of Moores MS; no equivalent SD in O. Something like MS's SD is required, in any case, so that the Inductor and Moors can re-enter later in the scene.
.
n5506
n5507
806NathanielWe applaud your device, and you’ll give me leave
To take your black bride*n6929
Nathaniel half-jokingly picks up on the earlier suggestions [EM 4.5.speech779], [EM 4.5.speech791], [EM 4.5.speech804], that Quicksands may be intending to marry Catalina.
here forth in a dance.
n6929
807QuicksandsWith all my heart, sir.
808NathanielMusic!*n5508
With a characteristically relaxed handling of verisimilitude, the music Nathaniel calls for is surely provided, like that for the dance of the moors, by the (offstage) theatre orchestra.
Play a galliard†gg3257
a lively dance in triple time
!
n5508
gg3257
[To Phillis] You know what you promised me, bullace*n4417
] Bullis O; Bullis MS; bullies conj. Deighton; Bull's conj. Ingram. As Steen correctly notes, Nathaniel is here addressing the black Phillis as 'bullace', a term for a black plum, used figuratively to indicate her black beauty (see OED bullace n.). Ingram's conjecture that it refers to music by the organist John Bull is invalid.
.
n4417
809PhillisBut how-a can it-a be done-a?
810Nathaniel [Aside] How I am taken with the elevation of her nostrils!
[Aloud] Play a little quicker— [To PHILLIS] Hark you—if I lead you
A dance to a couch or a bedside, will you follow me?
811PhillisI will do-a my best-a.
NATHANIEL dances vilely. QUICKSANDS and TESTY laugh and look off*n4419
] O; He daunces vily MS. Nathaniel's plan is to render Quicksands helpless with laughter, so that he will not notice Nathaniel and Catalina leaving the room together. The vile dancing, then, is a calculated act. To 'look off' is to turn one's eyes away (OED look v. 38), and we should imagine Quicksands and Testy almost weeping with laughter, perhaps holding on to one another for support.
.
n4419
812NathanielSo, so; quick music, quick.
813QuicksandsO ugly! Call you this dancing? Ha, ha, ha!
814Nathaniel [Aside] Do you laugh at me*n4421
Perhaps best construed as a sardonic comment, rather than actually spoken to Quicksands: as he takes Catalina away to seduce her, Nathaniel thinks he has the last laugh. The MS stage direction specifies that 'he dances her quite away': evidently, the two are dancing together as they leave the stage.
!
n4421
Enter ARNOLD like a countryman, and BUZZARD like a changeling, and as they enter, NATHANIEL [exits] with PHILLIS, the music still playing*n5509
] O; He daunces her quite away & sodainly Enter Arnold like an old countrey man And Buzzard like a Changling, the Musick Continuing MS.
.
[BUZZARD] sings and dances and spins with a rock and spindle*n4422
For rocks and spindles, see [NOTE n2795]. It seems a reasonable supposition that the dancing routine would dwell on the lewd phallic possibilities of the rock.
.
n5509
n4422
815ArnoldBy your leave, gentlefolks!
816BuzzardO brave, o brave!
817QuicksandsHow now?
818TestyWhat are these?
819BuzzardHack ye there, hack ye there*n4425
One of the catchphrases of Buzzard-as-changeling. 'Hack' can refer to carding fibres with a hackle, or comb, one of the stages of spinning (OED v4). Steen suggests it indicates 'the chopping motion associated with a rock and spindle', but it is hard to find lexical support for this meaning.
!
n4425
O brave pipes! Hack ye there!
Hey toodle loodle loodle loo*n4426
Imitative of the sound of a flute or pipe: see OED toodle v. Perhaps best interpreted, like 'ha ha ha', as an instruction to make noise rather than a set of words to be spoken.
!
n4426
820QuicksandsWhat are you, men or devils?
821ArnoldYou are advised enough, sir, if you please*n4427
] You are advis'd enough: Sir, if you please O; You are advised enough Sr and you please MS. O's punctuation is mistaken. The meaning is, 'You ask if we are men or devils, but, if I may say so, you should be able to recognize devils (since I imagine you are personally acquainted with them)'. One of a number of jokes linking Quicksands to Hell.
. But to be short, I'll show you I am a Norfolk man and my name is John Hulverhead.
n4427
822Quicksands [softly] Hold thy peace.
823ArnoldYou cannot hear o’that side*n4428
Proverbial: 'you'd rather not listen to this unwelcome news' (Tilley, E11).
it seems.
n4428
824QuicksandsI know thee not, not I.
825ArnoldBut you know my brother Matthew Hulverhead, deceased, with whom you placed this simple†gs569
mentally impaired
child of yours.
gs569
826QuicksandsI placed no child in Norfolk, nor Suffolk, nor any -folk*n4429
That is, not in any county: a neologism, which also sounds like an obscenity.
, I.
n4429
[Aside] Say thou mistookst me: I'll reward thee. Go.
827ArnoldI cannot hear o’that ear neither, sir.
828VincentWhat’s the matter, Mr Quicksands?
829EdmundHa’ you any more jeers to put upon us? What are these?
830BuzzardHey toodle loodle loodle loo!
831QuicksandsGet you out of my house.
832ArnoldI may not till I be righted. I come for right, and I will have right, or the best of the city shall hear on’t.
833Vincent [Aside to EDMUND] I swear the rascals act it handsomely.
834TestyWhat art thou, fellow? What dost thou seek?
835VincentTell that gentleman: he is an upright magistrate and will see thee righted.
836ArnoldI am a poor Norfolk man, sir. And I come to ease myself of a charge†gg113
trouble, expense, responsibility (OED n. 11)
, by putting off a child natural to
the natural father*n4430
A pun: the first 'natural' refers to Timsy's mental impairment [GLOSS gg2813], and the second to Quicksands' fathering of a 'natural child', or bastard, out of wedlock.
here.
gg113
n4430
837QuicksandsMy child! Am I his father? Darest thou speak it?
838ArnoldBe not ashamed on’t, sir: You are not the first grave and wise citizen that has got†gg1531
begotten, conceived
an idiot.
gg1531
839TestyHere’s good stuff*n4431
Already angry at Quicksands for his treatment of Millicent, Testy starts to become incandescent at the news of Quicksands' earlier behaviour.
towards†gg1499
on the way
.
n4431
gg1499
840BuzzardHa, ha, ha— with a hey toodle loodle loodle loo! Etcetera*n5511
O uses '&c' at the end of these speeches: in effect, the printed script gives the actor playing Buzzard an instruction to make continuous noises. Modernizing editions have tended to tidy away details like this, but they seem worth preserving, as important to the overall effect of the scene.
.
n5511
841QuicksandsHow should I get him? I was never married till this month.
842ArnoldHow does other bawdy bachelors get children?
843BuzzardWith a hey toodle loodle loodle loo! Etcetera.
844TestyHave you been a bastard-getter†gg3261
one who fathers children out of wedlock: seemingly a Brome coinage
, and marry my niece?
gg3261
845Vincent [Aside to EDMUND] Now it works*n4432
That is: our plot takes effect. In particular, 'it works' might suggest a drug starting to act (OED v, 23 with quotations dating from 1585 and 1651).
.
n4432
846TestyI'll teach you to get a bastard, sirrah*n4434
I'll punish you for getting a bastard (OED teach v, 6b), although, in the next line, Arnold takes Testy's comment more literally. Presumably Testy is physically menacing Quicksands here, perhaps even starting to pursue him around a crowded stage full of ensemble comic action.
.
n4434
847ArnoldHe needs none o’your skill it seems.
848BuzzardHey toodle loodle! Etcetera.
849QuicksandsWell, Gentlemen, to take your wonder off,
I will lay truth before you*n4435
I will tell you the truth. Of course, Quicksands does no such thing. His claim that it was Buzzard who fathered the child is particularly amusing because we know, and Quicksands does not, that Buzzard is on stage to hear himself wrongly accused.
.
n4435
For a poor servant that I had, I undertook and paid
For keeping of an idiot.
850EdmundWho, your man†gg952
manservant, but in the seventeenth century taking on the more specific meaning of servant who takes care of horses
Buzzard?
gg952
851QuicksandsEven he.
852BuzzardHey toodle loodle! Etcetera.
Which I did pay, ’twas articled†gg3258
agreed (generally in the context of a formal contract)
that I should ne'er be
gg3258
Troubled with it more.
854TestyNow what say you to that, sir?
855Arnold’Tis not denied, sir. There was such agreement,
But now he is another kind of charge.
856VincentWhy, he gets something towards his living methinks.
BUZZARD spins.
857ArnoldYes, he has learned to thrip among the mawthers*n4436
To spin yarn among the unmarried women: two pieces of Norfolk dialect discussed at more length at [NOTE n2796] and [NOTE n2588].
;
n4436
But, sir, withal, to do more harm than good by’t,
And that’s the charge I speak of: we are not bound
To keep your child, and your child's children too.
858TestyHow’s that?
859ArnoldSir, by his cunning at the rock,
And twirling of his spindle on the thrip-skins*n4437
A 'trip-skin' is a 'A piece of leather, worn on the right hand side of the petticoat, by spinners with the rock, on which the spindle plays, and the yarn is pressed by the hand of the spinner' (OED, quoting Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia [1825]). For the sake of consistency in the joke, this edition retains O's spelling, 'thrip-skins'. This is then a correct piece of spinning terminology, but there is also a double entendre whereby it suggests, in titillatingly imprecise terms, the act of sex.
,
n4437
860BuzzardHey toodle, loodle, loodle! Etcetera.
861TestyIs’t possible?
862ArnoldSo well he takes after his father here it seems.
863EdmundTake heed o’that, friend: you heard him say it was his man's child.
864ArnoldHe shan't fright me with that, though it be a great man's part to turn over his bastards to his servants. I am none of his hirelings†gg1008
hired servants or workers, particularly used of rural employment
, nor his tenants I. But I know what I say; and I know what I come about; and not without advice; and you may know, that Norfolk is not without as knavish†gg3260
rascally: here used as a term of praise implying 'shrewd' or 'cunning'
counsel, as another county may be. Let his man
Buzzard be brought forth, and see what he will say to’t.
gg1008
gg3260
865BuzzardHey toodle loodle! Etcetera.
But stay! where is my wife? My wife, my wife—
867VincentWhat say you, sir?
868QuicksandsMy moor, I would say. Which way went my moor?
869VincentYour Ethopian princess! Nat is gone to dance with her in private, because you laughed him out of countenance*n4439
You shamed him with your laughter (OED countenance n, 6b)
here.
n4439
870QuicksandsMischief on mischief! Worse and worse I fear.
871TestyWhat do you fear, why stare you? Are you frantic†gg2607
violently or ragingly mad (OED adj. 1)
?
gg2607
872QuicksandsI must have wits and fits, my fancies and fegaries*n4440
All terms meaning 'clever conceit' or 'witty idea'.
.
n4440
873EdmundYour jeers upon poor gallants.
874VincentHow do you feel yourself?
875BuzzardHey toodle loodle! Etcetera.
876ArnoldAsk your father blessing, Timsy*n4441
In Caroline England, children were expected to kneel to their fathers, and ask their blessing. Timsy is a diminutive of 'Timothy', inappropriate for a grown man, and particularly funny for the audience because the character is being played by the clown Timothy Read. See Introduction for two contemporary allusions to his performance as the changeling.
.
n4441
877BuzzardHey toodle loodle! Etcetera.
878ArnoldUpon your knees, man.
[BUZZARD kneels to QUICKSANDS.] Enter NATHANIEL and PHILLIS, pulled in by the [INDUCTOR and the other] MOORS*n4445
] pulled in by the Moors O; pulld in by the Moore-actor MS.
.
n4445
Must you be peeping?
881TestyWhat’s the matter now?
882NathanielWhat was’t to you, ye rascals?
883Inductor*n4444
This character, who speaks three speeches here, is identified only as 'Moor' in the speech-prefixes of O. But the SD in the MS identifies him as 'the Moor-actor', that is, the Inductor.
It is to us, sir. We were hired to dance and to speak speeches; and to do the gentleman true service in his house; and we will not see his house made a bawdy
house, and make no speech o’that.
n4444
884TestyWhat is the business?
885InductorMarry, sir, a naughty business. This gentleman has committed a deed of darkness with your moor,
sir; we all saw it.
886TestyWhat deed of darkness? Speak it plainly.
887InductorDarkness or lightness*n6765
A pun: a 'light' woman is one who is sexually promiscuous.
; call it which you will. They have lain together; made this same a bawdy house;
how will you have it?
n6765
888QuicksandsUndone, most wretched. O, I am confounded.
I see no art can keep a woman honest.
889NathanielI love her, and will justify my act*n4464
I will marry her (OED justify v, 7c). A coup de théâtre, and, from the point of view of character criticism, one of the major cruces of the play, since it is so inexplicably out of character with Nathaniel's professed allergy to marriage up to this point. There are two main possibilities for a production attempting to make sense of this moment. On the one hand, Nathaniel could be saying this out of some cynical calculation, hoping for instance that Quicksands will buy him off (although there is yet little obvious reason to suppose that Quicksands would), or while physically under duress of some sort (such as being menaced by the Moors). The other, and perhaps preferable, possibility is that Nathaniel, transported with sexual pleasure, surprises himself by blurting out an intention to marry. This opens the way to seeing Nathaniel as a more complex character with a little interiority, and to seeing him as ultimately redeemable by Phillis.
.
n4464
890PhillisAnd I thee, best of any man on earth*n4465
] And I thee best of any living man MS; And I the best of any man on earth O. I love you (and, implicitly, I accept your proposal of marriage). This line cements, in effect, a handfasting, a semi-formal engagement. It, too, is something of a character crux. Either it is touchingly sincere; or it is a grudging acceptance that men are horrible, and Nathaniel is the best of a bad lot; or, even, it is an alarming admission that she has now tried out many male lovers. Given the sympathetic treatment of Phillis elsewhere in the play, the third of these seems unlikely, and perhaps it might be played as a blend of the first and second options.
O and MS differ in two ways: O's 'the' yields some sense, but is much weaker than MS's idiomatic 'thee'. It is most likely a transmissional error and is corrected here from MS. On the other hand, the last words of the line are different but not evidently corrupt, and O's reading is retained for them.
Here MS's version of these last words is in some ways richer in its implications, inviting consideration of who Phillis might have loved who is now dead (such as her missing father), but perhaps this very richness led Brome to consider it over-complicating in this critical, and very busy, moment in the play.
.
n4465
891NathanielThou speakest good English now*n4466
That is because in her previous line she has dropped the 'blackface' dialect. Yet a third character crux: how much does Nathaniel realize when he speaks this line? There are at least three possibilities: blithe and slightly puzzled at the improvement in Catalina's English; suddenly aware Catalina might be a white woman, and therefore horrified; or suddenly aware that Catalina might be Millicent, and therefore delighted. All three possibilities are defensible, and all three produce different comic progressions through the dialogue that follows.
.
n4466
892QuicksandsO ruin, ruin, ruin—
893BuzzardHey toodle loodle! Etcetera.
894VincentWhy take you on so, for an ugly fiend*n4467
Why are you so upset over him seducing an ugly fiend like Catalina?
?
n4467
895QuicksandsShe is my wife, gentlemen.
896AllHow, sir, your wife?
898QuicksandsI say, my lawful wife; your niece; and so disguised
By me on purpose.
899TestyI said he was mad before, ha, ha, ha!
900NathanielNow I applaud my act, ’twas sweet and brave.
901QuicksandsI’ll be divorced before a court in public.
902TestyNow will I use authority and skill†gg3263
carries a meaning closer to 'expert knowledge' than to the modern idea of 'practised action'
.
gg3263
Friends, guard the doors. None shall depart the house.[The INDUCTOR and MOORS exit.]*n4469
] ext actors MS; no SD in O. They are the 'friends' referred to in Testy's speech, and this is a convenient way of getting them off stage.
n4469
903Nathaniel, Edmund, and VincentContent, content.
906TestyMarry Sir, shall you.
908Arnold [Aside] No, no, fear nothing.
909TestyYou know your chamber, huswife†gg1940
a pejorative term for a hussy or worthless woman (OED housewife n. 2)
. I’ll wait o’your master
gg1940
Tonight. We will not part until, tomorrow day,
Justice and Law lights every one his way.
910VincentIs this your merry night, sir?
911QuicksandsOh—oh—oh—oh—
912EdmundWhy roar you so?
913NathanielIt is the cuckold's howl, a common cry about the city.
914QuicksandsOh oh—
Edited by Matthew Steggle