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41:76. Borrowed shape. Stock theatrical term for dress of disguise.

43: 124. Politic French. An amusing anachronism.

44: 133. Aches. A dissyllable.

44: 134. Imposthumes. Swellings, inward sores.

This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,
That inward breaks and shows no cause without
Why the man dies.

44:135. Humours. Temper.

Hamlet, IV. iv. 27.

44: 149. Then let us care. The quarto gives this speech to Bassanes, but manifestly it belongs to Penthea, being a continuation of her train of thought which is broken in upon by her husband.

46:3. Jealous.

Suspicious, as frequently.

47:43. Intrenching on. Trenching upon.

49: 1. Due praise has never been bestowed upon Ford's lyrical faculty. Aside from Shakespere and Beaumont and Fletcher, none of the old dramatists as a whole excels him. Webster wrote one dirge which Ford never equaled, but the latter's note is more natively lyrical. The song at the opening of this scene, and that in Act IV. scene iii., may be cited as admirable examples of his art. To these might be added the following from The Lover's Melancholy, Act II. scene i.:

SONG.

Fly hence, shadows, that do keep
Watchful sorrows charmed in sleep!
Though the eyes be overtaken,
Yet the heart doth ever waken
Thoughts, chained up in busy snares
Of continual woes and cares :
Love and griefs are so exprest
As they rather sigh than rest.

Fly hence, shadows, that do keep

Watchful sorrows charmed in sleep!

51:33. This scene between brother and sister is one of the strongest in the drama. The remorse of Ithocles at the sight of Penthea's suffering is rendered the more poignant by the realiza

tion of his own apparently hopeless love. Penthea, while she can not refrain from reminding her brother that he is the cause of her sorrows, shows her forgiving and sympathetic nature in the way in which she espouses his interests.

50:43. Spleen. A word in much more common use in Ford's day than in our own, sometimes indicating impetuosity, eagerness, sometimes caprice, and sometimes hate or malice.

52:53. Affections. Sorrows.

53:87. Turtles. Turtle-doves. The turtle-dove was the emblem of faithful love.

53:93. Nearness. This word does not occur in the original. It was suggested by Gifford as probably conveying the idea Ford had in mind.

54: III. I sweat in blood for't. An excusable bit of hyperbole, considering the speaker's over-wrought state of mind.

55: 123. Property. "A thing quite at our disposal, and to be treated as we please."

(Stevens.)

Do not talk of him

But as a property.

66

Julius Cæsar, IV. i. 40.

55: 131. Progress. 'This passage is not without curiosity as tending to prove that some of the words now supposed to be Americanisms were in use among our ancestors, and crossed the Atlantic with them. It is not generally known that Ford's county, Devonshire, supplied a very considerable number of the earlier settlers in the colonies." (Gifford.)

55: 144. Springal. Youthful. See 25:12.

56: 149. Franks. The figure is taken from the word "frank "

which means a small enclosure in which boars were fattened.

56: 155. Megrims. Whims, fancies. Firks-freaks.

57:167. Pandora's box. Pandora was, according to Greek mythology, the first created female. The story of her having been the cause of the introduction of evil into the world is thus told by Anthon: “Jupiter, incensed at Prometheus for having stolen the fire from the skies, resolved to punish men for this daring deed. He therefore directed Vulcan to knead earth and water, to give it human voice and strength, and to make it assume the fair form of a virgin like the immortal goddesses. He desired Minerva to

endow her with artist knowledge, Venus to give her beauty, and Mercury to inspire her with an imprudent and artful disposition. When formed she was attired by the Seasons and Graces, and each of the deities having bestowed upon her the commanded gifts, she was named Pandora (all-gifted). Thus furnished, she was brought by Mercury to the dwelling of Epimetheus, who, though his brother Prometheus had warned him to be on his guard, and to receive no gifts from Jupiter, dazzled with her charms, took her into his house and made her his wife. The evil

effects of this imprudent step were speedily felt. In the dwelling of Epimetheus stood a closed jar which he had been forbidden to open. Pandora, under the influence of female curiosity, disregarding the injunction, raised the lid, and all the evils hitherto unknown to man poured out, and spread themselves over the earth. In terror at the sight of these monsters, she shut down the lid just in time to prevent the escape of Hope, which thus remained to man his chief support and comfort." The source of this account is Hesiod.

58:206. This line was amended by Gifford. The original reads

To outdo art, and cry a jealousy.

59:13. Nearchus is a fair type of the noble suitor whose presence is necessary for the development of the plot, but whose part is as difficult as it is thankless, for Calantha openly snubs him at the first opportunity.

60:34. Marriage. A trisyllable.

60:36. Tastes of. An expression that has passed from use, though savours" in the same sense is still not uncommon.

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61:44. This meeting between Ithocles and Orgilus is exceedingly well carried out, the former really desiring to make amends in so far as possible for the wrong done in the past, the latter for his own hidden purposes veiling his hatred and appearing to meet his enemy halfway.

61:59. Engrossed. Mastered.

63: 19. Condition. Disposition.

63:21. While in the preceding speech Orgilus refers to bygone injuries, it is only here that he allows his deep resentment to

flame forth for a moment, so complete a command has he over himself.

65:58. Smooth. Kindly.

67:7. Penthea, in this most touching scene, seems to have a clear presage of her impending fate. It is indeed a bold stroke, the "bequeathing," as she puts it, of her brother to Calantha, but it proves successful, as the outcome shows, though at the time Calantha must needs hide her real thoughts by calling in her waiting women. Penthea's plea for Ithocles is a most moving appeal of a noble and forgiving mind that is upon the verge of being forever darkened.

68:42. Beshrew. Originally a very mild term of imprecation, though occasionally used in a stronger sense.

68:43. Thou turns't me too much woman. makes use of woman in the same sense :

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Shakespere twice

Wolsey. Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear
In all my miseries; but thou hast forced me,
Out of thy honest truth, to play the woman.

Henry VIII, III. ii. 429-431.

Laertes. Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,
And therefore I forbid my tears. But yet

It is our trick; nature her custom holds,

Let shame say what it will; when these are gone,

The woman will be out.

Hamlet, IV. vii. 184-188.

69:62. One of Ford's finest lines.

72:4. I am not what you doubt me.

to be.

What you suspect me

72:15. A man of single meaning. One without deceit, open,

sincere.

73:21.

grace my hopes with any instance

Of livery.

That is, bestow upon me some mark of your favour.

Gifford is of the opinion that this expression was derived from the fact that the retainers of great families were accustomed to wear badges, upon which the crests of their respective houses were emblazoned or stamped.

74:34. On't. Of it. A common contraction more euphonious

than of 't.

74:38. Contents. See 9: 109.

74:44. Increments. Augmentation, increase.

75:69. As a punishment for his temerity, Ixion was hurled by Jupiter into Erebus, and there fastened to an ever-revolving wheel.

76: 82. Your. An appelative.

76:87. Fustian. The word here has a meaning akin to smoothVelveteen is sometimes called "fustian," hence, perhaps, the

ness.

figure.

76:88. Less. This word does not occur in the quarto. It was inserted by Gifford as necessary to the sense.

77: 102. Colt. This was a term not infrequently applied in Ford's time to those in whom rudeness and folly were combined. It is quite possible that the dramatist may here have had in mind some tapestry, or "painted cloth," upon which he had seen represented the very figures he mentions.

77:116. The extraordinary success with which the revengful spirit of Orgilus is maintained through every scene is highly creditable to the poet's skill. There is not a word spoken by him which does not denote a deep and dangerous malignity, couched in the most sarcastic and rancorous language. The bitterness of gall, the poison of asps, lurk under every compliment, which nothing but the deep repentance and heartfelt sincerity of Ithocles could possibly prevent him from feeling and detecting." (Gifford.) 77: 118. Suppling. The quarto has supplying. At best the figure is somewhat confused.

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78: 120.

The hurts are yet but mortal
Which shortly will prove deadly.

Gifford is of the opinion that for "yet but" we should read 'yet not." If, however, we take "mortal" in the sense of "serious" such a change will not be necessary.

78:126. Saw. Saying.

78: 141. I am not Edipus. The reference here is to the solution by Edipus of the riddle propounded by the Sphinx which Juno had sent to ravage the territory of Thebes. For the story of Edipus in full see Greek mythology.

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