Volume Iii Part 143 (2/2)
p. 109 _Twins_. Vide note (p. 319, _Amorous Twire_), Vol. II, p. 440, _The Feigned Courtezans_.
p. 113 _gives Julia the Letter_. Mrs. Behn took the hint for this device from _L'Ecole des Maris_, ii, XIV, where Isabella feigning to embrace Sganarelle gives her hand to Valere to kiss.
p. 116 _Just-au-corps_. 'A sort of jacket called a _justacorps_ came into fas.h.i.+on in Paris about 1650. M. Quicherat informs us that a pretty Parisienne, the wife of a _maitre de comptes_ named Belot, was the first who appeared in it. In a ballad called _The New-made Gentlewoman_, written in the reign of Charles II, occurs the line ”My justico and black patches I wear”. Mr. Fairholt suggested that _justico_ may be a corruption of _juste au corps_.--Planche's _Cyclopedia of Costume_, Vol. I, p. 318. Pepys, 26 April, 1667, saw the d.u.c.h.ess of Newcastle 'naked-necked, without anything about it, and a black just-au-corps'.
cf. Dryden's _Limberham; or, The Kind Keeper_ (1678), iv, I: '_Aldo_.
Give her out the flower'd Justacorps with the petticoat belonging to't.'
p. 116 _Towers_, The tower at this time was a curled frontlet of false hair. cf. Crowne's _The Country Wit_ (1675), Act ii, II, where Lady Faddle cries to her maid, 'run to my milliner's for my gloves and essences ... run for my new towre.' Shadwell, _The Virtuoso_ (1676), Act iii, mentions 'Tires for the head, locks, tours, frouzes, and so forth'.
_The Debauchee_ (1677), Act ii, I: Mrs. Saleware speaks of buying 'fine clothes, and tours, and Points and knots.' _The Younger Brother_ (1696), Act v, the last scene, old Lady Youthly anxiously asks her maid, 'is not this Tour too brown?' During the reign of Mary II and particularly in the time of Anne a Tower meant almost exclusively the high starched head-dress in vogue at that period.
p. 116 _beat the hoof_. To go packing; to trudge off on foot. _Dic.
Canting Crew_ (1690), 'Hoof it or beat it on the Hoof--to walk on foot.'
Pad the hoof is a yet commoner expression. These and similar slang are still much used.
p. 117 _finical_. According to the _N.E.D_. the use of finical as a verb is a nonce word only found in this pa.s.sage.
p. 119 _lead Apes in h.e.l.l_. To die an old maid. A very common expression.
It will be remembered that Beatrice had something to say on the subject.
--_Much Ado About Nothing_, Act ii, I.
p. 122 _Docity_. Gumption, cf. note (p. 340), Vol. II, p. 441, _The Feign'd Curtezans_.
p. 123 _Don Del Phobos_. The adventures of the Knight of the Sun and his brother Rosiclair belong to the Amadis school of romance. They were published in two volumes, folio, at Saragossa, 1580, under the t.i.tle _Espejo de principes e cavalleros; o, Cavallero del Febo_. The first part of this romance was translated into English by Margaret Tiler, _The Mirrour of Princely deedes and Knighthood_ (4to, 1578), other portions appearing subsequently. The whole four parts, translated from the original Spanish into French, appeared in eight volumes, and an abridged version was made by the Marquis de Paulmy. The Amadis cycle long remained immensely popular.
p. 129 _Gad-bee in his Brain_. As we now say 'a bee in his bonnet'. For 'Gad-bee' cf. Holland's _Pliny_ (1601) I, 318. 'The bigger kind of bees ... and this vermin is called _Oestrus_ (i.e. the gad-bee or horse fly).' cf. _The Lucky Chance_, ii, II: 'The Gad-Bee's in his Quonundrum'
and note on that pa.s.sage infra. For the idea compare 'brize-stung'
(= crazed).
p. 142 _c.o.c.kt_. Set his hat jauntily. A very frequent phrase.
p. 146 _Slashes_. b.u.mpers. From the idea of vigour contained in 'slash'.
The word is extremely rare in this sense and perhaps only found here.
But cf. Scottish (Lothian) 'slash' = a great quant.i.ty of broth or any other sorbile food.
p. 148 _what the Devil made me a s.h.i.+p-board_? cf. Geronte's reiterated complaint 'Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galere?'--_Les Fourberies de Scapin_ (1671), ii, VII; and the phrase in Cyrano de Bergerac's _Le Pedant Joue_ (1654): 'Ha! que diable, que diable aller faire en cette galere?... Aller sans dessein dans une galere!... Dans la galere d'un Turc!'--Act ii, IV. In France this phrase is proverbial.
p. 156 _glout thy Eyes_. Scowl; frown. Glout (without 'thy Eyes') is very common in this sense. cf. Note (p. 201), Vol. II, p. 433.
p. 160 _an Antick_. A fantastic measure. This is a favourite word with Mrs. Behn.
p. 165 _Aquinius his Case_. This is, I take it, some confused allusion to the great Dominican Doctor, S. Thomas Aquinas, who was regarded as being the supreme Master of scholasticism and casuistry. Casuistry must be taken in its true and original meaning--the balancing and deciding of individual cases.
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